New York\'s Dutch Heritage

[Marius_Ursus]

Aside from the half-moon ships, Dutch barns, and tulips, in Upstate we have something called "kills". We have Normanskill, Vlomanskill, etc. A kill is a ravine around here. Is "kill" a Dutch word?

[satsobek]

Since none of the Dutchies on here seem to want to answer you, I will. :twisted:
I went and looked it up.
The suffix -kill derives from the old Dutch kille, which means a riverbed or channel. If you see that name on a place, chances are a river or stream is (or was) nearby. Most modern Cloggies wouldn't recognize the word though, since it's no longer part of the common usage.

[Jona Lendering]

It's an expression that's now obsolete in Dutch, but kil once meant valley. It was especially used for a channel, the deepest part of a fairway. It can be used for ocean trogues (geosynclines). Over here, we still have the "Dordtschee Kil" (the kil near a town called Dordtrecht) but as I said, it is becoming obsolete.

And talking about old New York: isn't this a lovely pic?
[url:3je2w11q]http://www.livius.org/a/1/netherlands/nieuwamsterdam.jpg[/url]

[Jona Lendering]

Since none of the Dutchies on here seem to want to answer you, I will

Nice idea that two people have been checking the same old word at the same time... :wink:

[Tarbicus]

Cloggies?

I like.

[Jona Lendering]

Expression coined by Colin White & Laurie Boucke. authors of a book called UnDutchables® (see [url:27gky0ks]http://www.theundutchables.com/[/url]). It's funny.

[Arthes]

Cloggies?

I like.

So do I
A lot of the Northerners, especially around Lancashire area could be known as 'Cloggies' too.....as they were common footwear in the region...!

Expression coined by Colin White & Laurie Boucke. authors of a book called UnDutchables® (see [url:24wigum0]http://www.theundutchables.com/[/url]). It's funny.

It's not only a Dutch entrance hall that looks like that...!

[Marius_Ursus]

Thanks Christy and Jona. Very informative, and yeah, all the kills here have a river running through them.

And talking about old New York: isn't this a lovely pic?
[url:3z4srfqk]http://www.livius.org/a/1/netherlands/nieuwamsterdam.jpg[/url]

That is lovely!