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From: deb5@midway.uchicago.edu (Daniel von Brighoff)
Subject: Kees [was: Re: "Yankee"
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Date: Fri, 31 Jan 1997 19:39:28 GMT
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In article <32F1EC54.2781@wi.leidenuniv.nl>,
P.M.Fransen <pfransen@wi.leidenuniv.nl> wrote:
>Dave Wilton wrote:
>> 
>> Tom Wier wrote:
>> > Is there any validity to the statement that the term "Yankee" derives from
>> > a disparaging New Amsterdam Dutch form of "Jan Kees" (meaning John Cheese, if I
>> > am not mistaken)? Just curious.
>> 
>> Yes. It is one of the two leading contenders for the origin of the word.
>> The other is "Janke," a Dutch diminutive of Jan.
>
>Kees doesn't mean cheese, it's just a very traditional dutch name.

I thought it was both a common given name and a dialectal variant of
`kaas'.  Am I mistaken?

-- 
	 Daniel "Da" von Brighoff    /\          Dilettanten
	(deb5@midway.uchicago.edu)  /__\         erhebt Euch
				   /____\      gegen die Kunst!
