Mysteries of vernacular: Yankee - Jessica Oreck and Rachael Teel

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Is it a doodle dandy? A baseball team? The origins of the word yankee are unclear, though its usage in America as a pejorative is well-documented. Jessica Oreck and Rachael Teel track the varying levels of contempt that the word yankee has elicited from the pre-Revolution era to today.

Lesson by Jessica Oreck and Rachael Teel, animation by Jessica Oreck.

Mysteries of vernacular:

Yankee,

a New England resident

or, more generally, a person who lives in

or is from the United States.

Though the origin of Yankee is uncertain,

this all-American word most likely descended

from the Dutch moniker Janke,

a diminutive meaning little Jan,

or little John.

In the 17th century,

Janke was the common nickname of Dutch sailors,

pirates in particular.

A Dutch pirate ship operating in the West Indies

was even called the Yankee.

Over the years, Yankee transformed

from a pirate's nickname

into a general term of contempt.

In 1758, British general James Wolfe

used Yankee as a pejorative term

for the colonists under his supervision.

But the insult wasn't limited to soldiers.

Yankee quickly came to mean New Englander,

and by the 1780s,

it was used to look down

upon any American.

During the Revolution,

colonists co-opted Yankee

and transformed it into a mark of national honor.

The Civil War, however,

intensified the derisive definition

when it was used by Southerners

to mock members of the Union.

Today, it carries much less emotion,

unless, of course,

we're talking about baseball.