Editing Yankee (section)

===New Netherland origin===
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Most linguists look to [[Dutch language]] sources, noting the extensive interaction between the Dutch colonists in [[New Netherland]] (parts of New York, New Jersey, and Delaware) and the English colonists in [[New England]] ([[Massachusetts Bay Colony|Massachusetts]], [[Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations|Rhode Island]], and [[Connecticut Colony|Connecticut]]).<ref name="MW"/> The exact application, however, is uncertain; some scholars suggest that it was a term used in derision of the Dutch colonists, others that it was derisive of the English colonists.

[[Michael Quinion]] and [[Patrick Hanks]] argue that the term comes from the Dutch ''Janneke'', a diminutive form of the given name ''Jan''<ref name=posh>{{Cite web|url=http://www.worldwidewords.org/reviews/re-por1.htm|title=World Wide Words: Port Out, Starboard Home|website=World Wide Words}}</ref> which would be Anglicized by New Englanders as "Yankee" due to the Dutch pronunciation of ''J'' being the same as the English ''Y''. Quinion and Hanks posit that it was "used as a nickname for a Dutch-speaking American in colonial times" and could have grown to include non-Dutch colonists, as well.<ref name=posh/> The [[Oxford English Dictionary]] calls this theory "perhaps the most plausible".

Alternatively, the Dutch given names ''Jan'' ({{IPA|nl|jɑn|lang}}) and ''[[Kees (given name)|Kees]]'' ({{IPA|nl|keːs|lang}}) have long been common, and the two are sometimes combined into a single name (Jan Kees). Its Anglicized spelling ''Yankee'' could, in this way, have been used to mock Dutch colonists. The chosen name ''Jan Kees'' may have been partly inspired by a dialectal rendition of ''Jan Kaas'' ("John Cheese"), the generic nickname that Southern Dutch used for Dutch people living in the North.<ref name=yanky>Harper, Douglas. ''Online Etymology Dictionary'': "[http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=yankee Yankee]". 2013. Accessed 13 Jul 2013.</ref>

The [[Online Etymology Dictionary]] gives its origin as around 1683, attributing it to English colonists insultingly referring to Dutch colonists. English privateer [[William Dampier]] relates [[A New Voyage Round the World|his dealings]] in 1681 with Dutch privateer Captain Yanky or Yanke. Linguist [[Jan de Vries (linguist)|Jan de Vries]] notes that there was mention of a pirate named ''[[Yankey Willems|Dutch Yanky]]'' in the 17th century.<ref>{{cite book | last = de Vries | first = Jan | year = 1971 | title = Nederlands Etymologisch Woordenboek | language = nl | at = Headword: yankee}}</ref> ''[[The Life and Adventures of Sir Launcelot Greaves]]'' (1760) contains the passage, "Haul forward thy chair again, take thy berth, and proceed with thy story in a direct course, without yawing like a Dutch yanky."<ref>''The Life and Adventures of Sir Launcelot Greaves'', [[Tobias Smollett]], chapter 3</ref> According to this theory, Dutch settlers of [[New Amsterdam]] started using the term against the English colonists of neighboring Connecticut.<ref name=yanky />