At 1:34 PM -0400 6/19/00, carol kammen wrote:
>This definition of Yankee comes from the soon to be published Local
>History Encyclopedia (AltaMira Press and AASLH):
>
>
>Yankee:  The origin of this word is murky.  In 1683, according to the
>Oxford English Dictionary, Yankee was in use in England as a surname,
>possibly of  Dutch origin.  British soldiers in the New World colonies
>used it as a term of contempt, however, thereafter it came to mean a New
>Englander.  After the Battle of Lexington, New Englanders began to use the
>word themselves, even making up a mythical band of Indians, the Yankos
>(meaning Invincibles) from which they claimed the word came.   The word
>was often used by southerners about those north of the Mason Dixon line,
>often with negative overtones.  Yankee was often preceded by epithets,
>especially "damned."   In addition, during the two world wars the term
>"Yanks" was used by Europeans to describe all Americans.  For a more
>detailed discussion of the word, see "Yankee" in Stephen Thernstrom,
>editor, *Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups (Cambridge, Mass.,
>1980).


i didnt know the dutch were that dispersed through out New england, i
thought they were primarily in NYS.

m

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