But consider its origin. Janke, which is Dutch for 'Johnny', was a word the settlers of New Amsterdam used to mean 'country bumpkin'. The English adopted the word, changed it to Yankee and applied to all Americans to imply that the colonists were rustic and uncouth. So it was indeed in origin an insult. Now in the North vs. South sense, it still meant American when used by the Confederates. The Southerners seceded. They were no longer part of the U.S. and used the term 'Yankee' (= American) to designate the Northerners who were part of the United States from the Southerners who did not consider themselves to be in the U.S., but in the Confederacy. So even then 'Yankee' meant any U.S. national. It was in the aftermath of the Civil War that the word 'Yankee' gained a new connotation, but that didn't cancel its original meaning. It was a word originally used by the British; who are we to say they don't know how to use their own language?