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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."
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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. 
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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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In reply to:
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!
Umm, how exactly? I wouldn't want to pass up any chance for moral outrage every time my niece refers to her guinea pig.
Bingley
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In reply to:
many of the words are very similar, more even then german/english words
I remember when I was doing the first year of a two-year German O level course at school, there were some Dutch-language films on TV and I was thrilled to be able to recognise some snatches of dialogue even without looking at the subtitles.
Bingley
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Dear Bingley: did you know that if you pick up a guinea pig by the tail, its eyes will fall out?They have no tails.
I had had the money to play such games, I'd protest using the name "wasp" for stinging insects. It's demeaning to us poor WASPs
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down the road a piece, guinea pig are more often found on the menu then in a pet shop.. they are considered a special treat to eat, and often featured for mother's day at restaurants.(Roosevelt ave and 108th street in queens is the one of the city's south american enclaves.i live at 97th street, but about a mile from Roosevelt Avenue.)
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let me quell this food thread right away!
crazy. hamster du jour....
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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.
Yes, indeed there is, wofa. (pronounced Skoo-kill, BTW) And there's also the notorious Schuykill Expressway, more "affectionately" known as the Surekill Expressway.
And thanks to Helen for pegging that early...there's also the Arthur Kill between Perth Amboy, NJ, and Staten Island, and the Kill Van Kull [sp?] in the NYC region, too.
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So were killies, the minnows that can be found largely in the salt and brackish back-bays and favored as fishing bait, then named by the Dutch as "creek fish"?
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Not that that there weren't Dutch in PAjust a few. pronounced Skoo-killthanks for the pronunciation, WO'N, always wondered about that one.
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I seem to recall someone telling me that in Ireland and possibly Wales, the word kil or kill attached to a name meant that the place is a hill. Can't find an online dictionary, though.
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In Welsh cil* means corner, 'tucked away place' or something along those lines - you may remember the name of the village with the castle with the stairs and deathleap was Cilgerran, which means something like 'Slate Corner'. It was the local quarry & major slateworks 150 years back, and the castle is indeed sited on a bend in the river. Welsh place names are often simply and directly descriptive like that, describing key topographical features. http://family-tree.hypermart.net/a_welsh_glossary.htmfwiw, the castle: http://www.castlewales.com/cliger.html
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Hrmph, I certainly do remember that place! I'm looking at the pamphlet right now. It says, "The timeworn, beautifully located castle has a romantic air--it is somehow fitting that Cilgerran is forever associated with the abduction in 1109 of Nest, the Welsh 'Helen of Troy', by a besotted Owain, son of the prince of Powys, an act which set all Wales aflame. The castle as it now stands dates from a century later, when the powerful Norman baron William Marshal the younger set about rebuilding it following a troubled period of capture and recapture from the Welsh in this hotly disputed area."
Mav, I wish you'd tell about the meaning of "slighted", and how you came to know that.
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Any etymological connection?
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Slighted seems to be one of those 'terms of art' used specifically to refer to the deliberate spoiling of a castle's defences in order to void its usefulness to any subsequent holders of the fortification (no idea where I picked up that useless gem!). I once ate a mologyThere’s a Norwegian hamlet called Stil Cut through by a delicate rill; But the wood pulping mill Makes the young fish quite ill ~ Now the rill has it fill of dead krill! men in, er, white (an alternative Krill)… http://www.fortunecity.com/roswell/prediction/51/text-files/krill.html
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What does *that say about the "Catskills"?
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In Ireland, Kill is the word for church or holy place. Anyone who went to Paddy WAP saw enough place names with kill in them to get terribly confused. Killarney, Glencoulombkill, Kilkenny, etc. ad nauseam. I did notice when I went back to Glencoulombkill that they were spelling it Glencoulombcille now, thoug continuing to pronounce it with a hard c sound on the last syllable.
BTW, one of the memporable views in Ireland is to be found a few miles east and a bit north of that town, You wind along this narrow mountain pass road until suddenly you come to the downslope. When the sun is just right you would swear that the Lord made it specially as a place of rest for weary travellers to take a moment to catch a breath. As Brona said to me, parts of Donegal are so beautiful you could cry. And I could cry because the day we went through this pass it was so misty that pictures were a blur. When i went over the pass on my bike some years back I took two whole rolls of pictures during my descent, only to have Pan Am lose the rolls during the flight home.
I'm gong back someday!
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I notice the word coulomb in the middle of this name. So - is it a holy place in a valley where the atmosphere is electric? 
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I remembered wondering where they got this name from and what it might mean:
Killinaboy
This is a town half way between Ennis and LisdoonvarnaI loved the way this name rolls off my tongue in County Clare, Ireland
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