h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

aye

Derivation of the term "Yankees", from the Iroquois and Huron word for 'English', "Yenguese".

The Hurons adopted it from the Iroquois, the French Canadians adopted it from the Hurons, and overseas it became a common word for Americans generally, though in the USA its usually restricted to people from New England* (south of the St. Lawrence river and east of the Hudson river), while people from 'Dixie' (south of the Ohio river and east of the Mississippi river) often resent being called 'Yankees', which in the states of the American Civil War confederacy pertains to people from the Union states generally.




*To be sure, portions of the south of the New England plate are sometimes referred to as New Holland, and those actually fronting on the St. Lawrence river are parts of Canada.

I have no idea about this, but Wikipedia claims: "Linguists do not support any Indian origins".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yankee

'The Straight Dope' usually does pretty good research.

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/506/what-is-the-origin-of-the-word-yankee

Now, I wouldn't take HL Mencken's word for anything. If he said it was raining, I'd look outside. And I love Cecil Adams' crack about James Fennimore Cooper, 'But most others think Cooper was about as good an etymologist as he was a novelist.'

Fact: nobody knows where the term 'Yankee' came from. And there's no scholarly agreement on the subject.

But I'm wondering, now. If they are the yank*ees*, who are the yank*ers*?

That is a valid question, KB

The French derivation, "l'anglais" given as the root of the Huron usage, is persuasive.

Fact is the term has been around for a long time, has been used by a great many peoples, originated in a largely illiterate and all but prehistoric society.