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YANKEE,
a citizen of New England, or of the United States. (Unknown.)
The word occurs as early as 1765. Webster cites: 'From
meanness first this Portsmouth Yankee rose, And still to meanness all his
conduct flows,' Oppression, A Poem by an American, Boston, 1765. We
also find in the same: 'Commonly supposed to be a corrupt pronunciation of
the word English, or of the F. word Anglais, by the native Indians
of America. According to Thierry, a corruption of Jankin, a
dimin. of John, a nickname given to the English colonists of Connecticut
by the Dutch settlers of New York [which looks very like a pure
invention]. Dr. Wm. Gordon, in his Hist. of the American War, ed.
1789, vol. i. pp. 324, 325, says it was a favourite cant word in Cambridge,
Mass., as early as 1713, and that it meant "excellent;" as, a yankee
good horse, yankee good cider, &c. He supposes that it
was adopted by the students there as a by-word, and, being carried by them from
the college, obtained currency in the other New England colonies, until at
length it was taken up in other parts of the country, and applied to New
Englanders generally as a term of slight reproach.' Cf. Lowland Sc. yankie,
a sharp, clever, forward woman; yanker, an agile girl, an incessant
speaker; yanker, a smart stroke, a great falsehood; yank, a sudden
and severe blow, a sharp stroke; yanking, active, pushing
(Jamieson). Without the nasal, there is also Lowland Sc. yack,
to talk precipitately and indistinctly, yaike, a stroke or
blow. β. If Dr. Gordon's view be right, the word yankee may be
identified with the Sc. yankie, as above; and all the Scotch words appear to be
of Scand. origin, due, ultimately, to Icel. jaga, to move about, whence
(reflexively) jagast, to altercate; cf. Swed. jaga, to hunt, whence Swed. dial.
jakka, to rove about (cf. Nassau jacken, to drive horses quickly, cited by Rietz).
The fundamental idea is that of 'quick motion;' see Yacht.
¶ But the
word cannot be said to be solved. [†]
ADDENDA
We also find Low G. jakkern,
to keep walking about, certainly connected with Du. jagen and jacht.
Also Norw. janka, to totter, belonging to the same set of
words. I have now little doubt that yankee is connected with
these words, and not with English nor with Du. Jankin, both
obviously guesses, and not good guesses. In his Supplem. Glossary,
Davies quotes: 'Proceed in thy story in a direct course, without yawing
like a Dutch yanky;' Smollett, Sir L. Greaves, ch. iii.
Davies explains yanky as meaning 'a species of ship,' I do not know on
what authority. If right, it goes to shew that yanky, in this
instance, is much the same as yacht. I conclude that yanky
or yankee orig. meant 'quick-moving,' hence, active, smart, spry,
&c.; and that it is from the verb yank, to jerk, which is a nasalised
form from Du. and G. jagen, to move quickly, chase, hunt, &c., cf.
Icel. jaga, to move to and fro, like a door on its hinges, Swed. jaga,
Dan. jage, to chase, hunt. The Dan. jage is a strong
verb, with pt. t. jog. The verb to yank, meaning 'to
jerk,' was carried from the North of England or Scotland to America, where Mr.
Buckland heard it used in 1871, and thought 'we ought to introduce it into this
country;' quite forgetting whence it came. In his Logbook of a
Fisherman and Naturalist, 1876, p. 129, he gives the following verses, 'composed
by one Grumbo Cuff.' 'A grasshopper sat on a sweet-potato vine,
Sweet-potato vine, Sweet-potato vine, A big wild turkey came running up behin',
And yanked the poor grasshopper Off the sweet-potato vine, The
sweet-potato vine.'
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