Why are Americans called Yankees?

Friar Tuck

Yankee (Commonly considered to be a corrupt pronunciation of the word English, or of the French word Anglais, by the native Indians of America. According to Thierry, a corruption of Jankin, a diminutive of John, and a nickname given to the English colonists of Connecticut by the Dutch settlers of New York. Dr. W. Gordon (Hist. of the Amer. War, ed, 1789,) says it was a favorite cant word in Cambridge, Mass., as early as 1713, and that it meant {excellent;} as, a yankee good horse, yankee good cider, etc. Cf. Scot yankie a sharp, clever, and rather bold woman, and Prov. E. bow-yankees a kind of leggins worn by agricultural laborers.) A nickname for a native of citizen of New England, especially one descended from old New England {stock;} by extension, an inhabitant of the Northern States as distinguished from a {Southerner;} also, applied sometimes by foreigners to any inhabitant of the United States. - http://machaut.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/WEBSTER.page.sh?PAGE=1672 Jun 29 02, 11:04 PM

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