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we got to talking today about the word "kill" as it's used in place names, such as "Killington" and "Battenkill". the OED is too high up on the shelf right now(gotta clean off some desk space, summer is coming...), so what say ye?
formerly known as etaoin...
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I think it means "creek." I have a friend who lives in a place called "fishkill."
k
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Kill is a dutch word for a kind of wetlands,-marshy area, with a creek or stream.. NY is filled with them.
Dutch Kills (in Long Island city, right by 59th Street bridge) Arther Kills, Great Kill and several other kills on Staten Island, and any other number of Kill/s up and down the hudson. (i mentioned this in the thread (i think it was below the fold, on words from dutch). Like Neck, it seems to be a pretty NY geographic term-- every knows 'neck of woods' but NY has little neck, great neck, cows neck, lloyds neck, and many other place names include 'neck'-- bill bryson claims it is from an NY indian word (very similar, and i can't find it right now...in his book Made in America and it too mean a wetlands.. (and most of the necks i know are near one)
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thank you, Fiend and Helen, that makes much sense. 
formerly known as etaoin...
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Isn't there a Schuykill River around Philadelphia, too? Not that that there weren't Dutch in PA also, but the term isn't entirely NYC.
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Without even looking, I'm pretty sure " -kill" ia cognate with German "quelle" = spring, flowing water. Now I'll go look.
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Yep, it's Dutch all right. There is an earnest but misguided environmental group (I forget which one) which tried to get the town of Fishkill, NY to change its name because it encouranged the slaughter of animals. Helen probably knows.
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its most likely both german and dutch! (many of the words are very similar, more even then german/english words, and there are many of them (in spite of the very under used 'words from german thread') Pennsylvania had a large immigrant german population, NY had a Dutch population and both added place names.
did i mention that yesterday was NY 340th or so birthday? (the date is from the incorportion date, the settlement was some 25 years old before it was incorporated-- and that date is really for Nuew Amsterdam, not NY)
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Helen, as Dr Bill pointed out, "kill" is "quelle" auf Deutsch. But do you know the name of this environmental group and what the story is? It happened 7-8 years ago, if memory serves.
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Nope, i don't remember very much about the Fishkillincident-- but its sound typical! a group of concerned citizens lobbied (and succeeded!) in changing a road name on long island a few years ago. it was guinea woods road, and they said is was demeaning to italians!
the road was named for the wild bird,(similar to a chicken) that used to live in the now long gone forest, it was an early colonial road, with 300 years of history!-- some people are too stupid for words!
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