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Browsing named entities in Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing). You can also browse the collection for Thierry or search for Thierry in all documents.
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Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Yankee, (search)
Yankee,
A term popularly applied to citizens of the United States, and especially to those of New England birth.
There have been several theories advanced as to the origin of this word.
According to Thierry, it was a corruption of Jankin, a diminutive of John, which was a nickname given by the Dutch colonists of New York to their neighbors in the Connecticut settlements.
Dr. William Gordon, who wrote a history of the Revolutionary War, first published in 1789, had another theory.
He said that it was a cant word in Cambridge, Mass., as early as 1713, used to denote especial excellence, as a yankee good horse, yankee good cider, etc. He supposed that it was originally a by-word in the college, and, being taken by the students into other parts of the country, gradually obtained general currency in New England, and at length came to be taken up in other parts of the country, and applied to New-Englanders as a term of slight reproach.
Still another origin is given by Aubury, an