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Yankee-AJ
Correct sir
Hmmm. If a British officer says it came from a Cherokee word for "coward", I'm inclined to be suspicious of that British officer's motives (or his knowledge of the language--whether Cherokee or English), and would look back much further in time. Now, if this same British officer claimed it meant "brave and true" (in any language) I'd be inclined to give him some slack...This is a well-researched word.
"Yankee" is the Anglicized Dutch word "Janke" (John). British colonists originally used it as a term for Dutch colonists. Then it came to be applied by British to all American colonists.
Actually the origins of the term are lost to history , I've read the Dutch thing , it really doesn't have anymore validity than the Cherokee origins . The first written usage of the word was by a British General in 1775 . So who really knows . Dusty
Dusty, Not to argue, but the term "Yankee" dates to the 1680s, a hundred years before the British soldier made up the Cherokee connection. In the 1780s, Cherokee didn't have that word in their vocabulary.Yankee (n.)1683, a name applied disparagingly by Dutch settlers in New Amsterdam (New York) to English colonists in neighboring Connecticut. It may be from Dutch Janke, literally "Little John," diminutive of common personal name Jan; or it may be from Jan Kes familiar form of "John Cornelius," or perhaps an alteration of Jan Kees, dialectal variant of Jan Kaas, literally "John Cheese," the generic nickname the Flemings used for Dutchmen.https://www.etymonline.com/word/Yankee