End of ADS-L Digest - 14 Jun 1995 to 15 Jun 1995

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There are 3 messages totalling 57 lines in this issue.



Topics of the day:



 1. Fwd: Re(2): Yankee?

 2. Meddle in NCTE book

 3. Cutler's book



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Date:  Fri, 16 Jun 1995 10:04:33 -0600

From:  Bruce Gelder <bgelder[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]CAMEL.SIM.ES.COM>

Subject: Re: Fwd: Re(2): Yankee?



The Merriam-Webster New Book of Word Histories devotes four pages to the

etymology of "yankee," discussing many theories about its origin that

have been proposed over the years, including the Dutch "Jan Kees" theory

that was quoted here from Barnhart. It states that the "Jan Kees" theory

"has drawn the approval of more philologists...than any other theory [but

that] it is not without its difficulties, however. _Kees_, regardless of

its spelling, must have sounded like _case_ when pronounced in Dutch.

And two-part nicknames in Dutch seem to receive their main stress on the

second part, while _Yankee_ has first-syllable stress." The book asserts

that the origin of the word "is still uncertain."



It's an interesting read, for anyone who's interested.



-Bruce Gelder