The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1898-08-22
THE WORD YANKEE.
1t Was Little Used Before the Rev
OIufionnrS Wnr.

OlutfonarS War.
When the early English settlers In this
country began to hold intercourse with
the native Indians the latter experienced
much difficulty in pronounciug the ma
tional name of the newcomers says the
New York Tribune. They twisted the
word English into Yenghees, and 1t is
supposed that from their way of calling
the early settlers the present word yam
kee came into use.
TIE word does not seem to have been
much in vogue, however, until the Revo-
lutionary War, and is found in but few
writings previous to that time. One
author in the year 1715 speaks of the
name as something new, while many
OF the best authorities on Indian lam
guages find no mention of it among tribes
outside of New England Yet there are
| evidences of the name being used as
term of reproach by the English to the
ihhaoitants Of the colony during the
| war
In an old book, published in 1920. a foot
note about the name Yankee Is given
which fully explains the way tha Indian
pronunciation of the word English,
sradually developed into the name yam
| kee The broad gutteral tones op Iba
Indian soon modified the original worS
INTO fanghees,' the "g'' being hard and
| the n suppressed. This seems beyond
DOUBT to be the derivation Of the word
ana Out little credence is given to the ac-
count in Diedrieh Knickerbocker's his
| tory OF the tribes of Indians named Yam
ho0s' STUDENTS regard the story of this
| tribe as one of the Dutchman's littIa
| jokes. of which he was so fond. There is
| no good authority for believing in the
! existence of such a people and there is
no evidence that any such name was aver
adopted by any clan or tribe through
out the world. 1t is. however, believed
| that the Dutch settlers of New Amster-
dam and along the Hndson took the
name from the Indians and applied it as
an epithet of contempt for their English
| neighbors.
In this connection there is given in
Notes and Queries" a curious account
of the origin of Yankee Doodle" tracing
| II 10 the Persian phrase "Yanki-doo-
niah, or inhabitants of the new world"
In his book on "Nineveh and It's Re-
MAINS Layard speaks of ''Yanghi-dunia
as the Persian name for America
After the breaking out of the Revolu-
| tionary War the name of Yankee became
| exceedingly popular. and in a short time
| a privateer called the Yankee Herd"
| was NltS0 Oul ulSpdtCHeQ New
| England town, and many illusions to the
| word and its meaning can be found in
| the correspondence of that time. In one
| letter of the period, written by a British
| officer to his friends in the mother coun-
| try, and dated Hartford, Conn., he
speaks of the poor Yankees" as they
| designated the New England soldiers.
| Another letter of the same period tells
how in a skirmish 1.-The British troops
| were roughly handled by the Yankees. .
Nearly always the name was used to
designate the inhabitants of the New
England section of the land, and had
many different spellings, such as Yankie,
| Yanko, Yanhu and the Yankee, which at
present in America is still applied chiefly
to those who live within the borders of
New England, but which, in the minds
| of foreigners, means anybody living in
the United States.
Although the name has been used to
imply a reproach, the American people
have grown to rather like the cognomen,
and fail to resent its use by foreigners
even when coupled with more or less OPP
probrious epithets, such as have been
heard during the last few months, for, as
race, the Yankees have never suffered
defeat, nor have they the reputation for
other than the fairest play and most
honest dealing.