# Why did Confederates call Northerners "Yankees"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 11, 2002, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-confederates-call-northerners-yankees/97690 "2002-03-11T21:36:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2002, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-confederates-call-northerners-yankees/97690/1 "2002-03-11T21:36:01Z")
As we all know, during the American Revolution, the closest we had to a national anthem was “Yankee Doodle Dandy”, and as a result, Americans have been refered to as “Yankees” or “Yank”, even to this day. The question is, why did Southerners during the Civil War feel that not only did the term not apply to them but that it illustrated the difference between themselves and Northerners? Also, how did/do post-Civil War Southerners react when, say, Brits call them “Yank”? ---
**Author:** ![scotth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9e5f3/32.png) [@scotth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotth)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2002, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-confederates-call-northerners-yankees/97690/2 "2002-03-11T21:42:47Z")
I don’t know if this will help resolve this question, but here is the source of the word Yankee. Yankee was originally a “racial” slur against the Dutch. I believe it was even used by other northerners. Yon was/is a very popular Dutch name and the kee part comes from the Dutch word for cheese. Appearently they ate alot of cheese. I guess they were calling all Dutch people cheese heads named Yon. How people in the south started calling all people in the north this, I have no idea. ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2002, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-confederates-call-northerners-yankees/97690/3 "2002-03-11T21:48:26Z")
> [@](#): > > The question is, why did Southerners during the Civil War feel that not only did the term not apply to them but that it illustrated the difference between themselves and Northerners? I think you answered your own question. They considered themselves no longer part of the USA. Hence, it did not apply to them and it illustrated the difference between them. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2002, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-confederates-call-northerners-yankees/97690/4 "2002-03-11T21:53:50Z")
In the inner circles, they are called Damnyankees. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2002, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-confederates-call-northerners-yankees/97690/5 "2002-03-11T21:56:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by scotth \* > \*\*I don’t know if this will help resolve this question, but here is the source of the word Yankee. > > Yankee was originally a “racial” slur against the Dutch. I believe it was even used by other northerners. Yon was/is a very popular Dutch name and the kee part comes from the Dutch word for cheese. Appearently they ate alot of cheese. I guess they were calling all Dutch people cheese heads named Yon. > \*\* I would very much like to know your source for this. Webster’s says the etymology of the term is unknown. ---
**Author:** ![scotth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9e5f3/32.png) [@scotth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotth)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2002, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-confederates-call-northerners-yankees/97690/6 "2002-03-11T22:05:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lamia \* > \*\* > > I would very much like to know your source for this. Webster’s says the etymology of the term is unknown. \*\* I believe I heard this on “All things Considered” on NPR. This [page](http://www.geocities.com/etymonline/y1etym.htm) has something similar but not identical. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2002, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-confederates-call-northerners-yankees/97690/7 "2002-03-11T22:58:35Z")
> [@](#): > > I think you answered your own question. They considered themselves no longer part of the USA. Hence, it did not apply to them and it illustrated the difference between them. Yes, but they were still the same people ethnically, they were the Confederate States of _America_, they still strongly identified with the American Revolution, their ancestors fought in it and George Washington, Thomas Jefferson et al were Virginians, etc. **Scotth** ’s answer seems more convincing, that the term has a meaning not wholly dependant on the song. If “Yankee” means “Dutchman” then its use by Rebs could be referring to a New England Dutch ethnic influence not present in the South. I’d still like an answer to my second question, tho. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2002, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-confederates-call-northerners-yankees/97690/8 "2002-03-12T03:43:26Z")
Umm… the Dutch were in Nieuw Amsterdam, right? The Hudson River valley and that area. _Not_ New England. Those names meant something originally. New England was settled by English colonists. The semantic extensions of _Yankee_ go in several concentric levels: 1. To a foreigner, Yankee is synonymous with American. 2. To a Southron, it means a northerner. 3. To a northerner, it means more specifically a New Englander. 4. Within New England, it tends to mean someone descended from old New England stock (typically rural), associated with cultural ideas of industriousness, ingenuity, and thrift. “Old New England,” how’s that for an oxymoron? Eric Partridge, even though he was an Limey, came up with probably the best etymology of it in his book _Origins_: > [@](#): > > The most likely explanation of it is that _Yankee_ represents D[utch] _Janke_, dim[inutive] of D[utch] _Jan_, John, as applied by the New York (originally New Amsterdam) Dutch to the English settlers in Connecticut. (Webster strongly, Mathews less strongly, DAE lukewarmly, support the _Janke_ origin.) I would have to agree with Partridge. The colonial Dutch called the colonial English New Englanders that, not the other way around. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2002, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-confederates-call-northerners-yankees/97690/9 "2002-03-12T04:38:28Z")
So when did the British (and others) start calling us _all_ yankees? The south was closely allied with England, so maybe the term originated there. Peace, mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2002, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-confederates-call-northerners-yankees/97690/10 "2002-03-12T04:40:06Z")
_Mathews_ has cites for Yankee being used pejoritively by Southerners well before the Civil War. > [@](#): > > 1. (KY. newspaper). He has no probable support from any other than the Yankee States. So it didn’t originate at the time of the Civil War, but well before. I’ll keep looking to try to find an origin. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2002, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-confederates-call-northerners-yankees/97690/11 "2002-03-12T05:19:01Z")
Well, I guess nobody knows; [http://www.word-detective.com/back-z.html#yankee](http://www.word-detective.com/back-z.html#yankee) I’ll do the code thing next time, I promose. 😛 Peace, mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![cckerberos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2002, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-confederates-call-northerners-yankees/97690/12 "2002-03-12T08:08:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jomo Mojo \* > \*\*Umm… the Dutch were in Nieuw Amsterdam, right? The Hudson River valley and that area. _Not_ New England. Those names meant something originally. New England was settled by English colonists. > > The semantic extensions of _Yankee_ go in several concentric levels: > > 1. To a foreigner, Yankee is synonymous with American. > 2. To a Southron, it means a northerner. > 3. To a northerner, it means more specifically a New Englander. > 4. Within New England, it tends to mean someone descended from old New England stock (typically rural), associated with cultural ideas of industriousness, ingenuity, and thrift. “Old New England,” how’s that for an oxymoron? > \*\* I fall into the 4th category of the above and along with my fellow New Englanders I just have to say here that I feel no end of anger towards the terms appropriation by a certain group of New Yorkers 😃 ---
**Author:** ![widdershins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f0a364/32.png) [@widdershins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/widdershins)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2002, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-confederates-call-northerners-yankees/97690/13 "2002-03-12T09:37:08Z")
What do you mean “did”? Where I’m from anyone from further north than Columbia,TN is a called Yankee. Some people still can’t let it go. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2002, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-confederates-call-northerners-yankees/97690/14 "2002-03-12T14:17:54Z")
First of all, a quick summary of the origin of _Yankee_ from the OED. [list=1] [li]a variation of the Cherokee _eankke_ meaning slave or coward. Applied by Virginians to New Englanders for not helping out against the Cherokee.[/li][li]a variation of _English_ used by Native Americans.[/li][li]a variation of Dutch _Janke_ meaning Johnny.[/li][/list=1] So there’s obviously no clear origin for the word. And my personal opinion: Yankee means someone from New England, and coming from Ohio, I’d be mildly insulted if someone called me one. Carpetbagger, that’s ok; Yankee, no way. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2002, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-confederates-call-northerners-yankees/97690/15 "2002-03-12T14:59:22Z")
Am I inferring that you believe that “yankee,” and the song Yankee Doodle were first in common usage during the War Between the States? Not so, they go back at least to the American Revolutionary War. I read in Joel Achenbach’s book _Why Things Are Vol II: The Big Picture_ (it’s been a few years, and this is from memory), that the song was made up by British soldiers making fun of the colonists. When the colonists started winning, they took up the song as a big “oh yeah?”. I don’t know the etymology of Yankee, but according to Joel, the song came from this: _Yankee Doodle went to London riding on a pony_ This means “Look at the hayseed American, coming into London riding a pony instead of a proper horse.” _Stuck a feather in his hat and called it macaroni_ The fashion rage in London at the time was for city gents to dress in the Italian style of big ostrich feathers in hats, and generally effeminate looking clothes. They called this style macaroni. The Brits were saying that the American who came into London thought he was a macaroni fahion plate just because he stuck a feather in his hat. What a goober! ---
**Author:** ![robcaro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@robcaro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robcaro)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2002, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-confederates-call-northerners-yankees/97690/16 "2002-03-12T15:18:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by sqweels \* > **As we all know, during the American Revolution, the closest we had to a national anthem was “Yankee Doodle Dandy”, and as a result, Americans have been refered to as “Yankees” or “Yank”, even to this day…** > [@](#): > > \*From American Heritage Dictionary \* > WORD HISTORY: Yankee is an excellent example of a widely known word whose origins cannot be determined. The best hypothesis is that Yankee comes from Dutch Janke, a nickname for Jan, “John.” Evidence can be found in the Oxford English Dictionary that the forms Yankey, Yanky, and Yankee were used as surnames or nicknames in the 17th century. The word Yankee is first found in one of our modern senses in 1758, the sense being “a New Englander.” The 17th-century nickname for Jan was derisive, and the first instances of our word show the term being used derisively by the British for New Englanders. After the Battle of Lexington (1775) New Englanders dignified the name. The British were responsible for application of the term to all Americans (a use first recorded around 1784); and Southerners, for application of the term to Northerners (first recorded in 1817).