YANKEE - where did that come from?


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Posted by Ed Kiser on June 11, 2006 at 00:21:48 from 152.163.101.7 user Kisered.

In Reply to: Re: USA - YANKS - was C(h)ronology - Was Re: Ages of the S's, A's and D's. posted by Ed Kiser on June 09, 2006 at 21:21:56:

The ORIGINS of the word, "YANKEE" --

In the early colonial days, the Dutch had a settlement at a place they called "New Amsterdam" which is where New York City is today. Then British ships with guns came into the harbour and announced that it was no longer a Dutch colony, but an English colony. Considering the number of guns on those ships, the Dutch colonials felt it best to agree that they were now an English colony.

Along with the English ships came the beginning of English settlers in this new colony now called New York. The two groups co-existed, the Dutch settlers along with the English new-comers.

Whenever two ethnic groups settle in near proximity to each other, it leads to the usage of a familiar, "PET" name, to refer to that other bunch. Just as a German might be called a "Kraut" based on what is felt to be a favorite food of that set of people, the Dutch picked up on the English liking of cheese, so they started referring to their English neighbors as "John Cheese" where "John" was considered to be a relatively common English name. The English heard the Dutch referring to them, as they spoke in Dutch, and figured out that it was the English they were talking about. What they heard the Dutch saying sounded a bit like, "John Kase", (where KASE means CHEESE) but in Dutch, the "J" came out as a "Y" sound, so they heard "YAN KASE." This of course was the English ear trying to hear a Dutch expression, and when they tried to imitate it, the sound became a bit more Anglisized, so it came out, "Yan Kees" which when ran together, became "YANKEES." This ended in "S" so obviously it was a plural word, so to make it SINGULAR, they repeated the word without the "S" sound, and came up with "YANKEE."

So the original YANKEE is referring to the early English colonial settlers in the very young English colony called New York, that used to be New Amsterdam.

That definition has shifted a bit over time, with different parts of the USA having different ideas as to the definition as to just who is a YANKEE, but that is the original definition.

"And now, you know the rest of the Story."

Amazing what one learns by studying the books of Ransome.

Ed Kiser, South Florida, soon to be in KENTUCKY


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