Yankee

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈjæŋ.ki/^[1]

Etymology

Of unknown origin.^[2][3] It probably comes from Dutch: perhaps from Janke, a diminutive of the name Jan “John”,^[2][4] or a back-formation from Jan Kees, a dialect form of Jan Kaas “John Cheese”, a nickname for Dutchmen, mistaken for a plural.^[5][4][6] Random House suggests it was applied by the Dutch of colonial New York to English settlers in Connecticut.^[6][4] The forms Yankey and Yanky occur as nicknames in the 1680s.^[5][2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A nickname, as in Yankey Duch (1683) and Captain Yankey (1684);^[5][4] as a term of contempt for New Englanders it appears in 1758.^[5][2][3]

Semantic evolution

First used derisively by the British for New Englanders,^[2][4] the name was adopted with pride by the New Englanders themselves after the Battle of Lexington in 1775.^[2] As a general name for a native of New England it dates from 1765.^[7][5][4] The British applied it to all Americans from about 1784,^[2][7] and Southerners applied it to Northerners (1817), especially to Union soldiers in the Civil War.^[2][7]

Timeline

• 1683 – Yankey, a nickname.^[5][4]
• 1758 – a term of contempt for a New Englander.^[5][2][3]
• 1765 – a native of New England.^[7][5][4]
• c. 1784 – any American, in British use.^[7][2]
• 1817 – a Northerner, in Southern use.^[2]
• 1952 – a code word for the letter Y.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A native or inhabitant of New England.
2. A native or inhabitant of a northern US state, especially a Union soldier in the American Civil War.
3. A native or inhabitant of the United States; an American.
4. A code word for the letter Y in radio communication.

Word family

• Yankeedom
• Yankeefy
• Yankeeland
• Yank
• Yankee-Doodle
• Yankeeism
• yanqui

Related words

• Jan
• John

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
6. ^ a b Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press