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Latest comment: 14 years ago3 comments3 people in discussion
I don't know anything about this town, but I do know Dutch and "poesten" does not mean "cat." Kill is a well-known Dutch dialect word for creak or stream. It is possible that "poesten" is a garbled form of the word "poezen" from "poes" (cat). If this is true, it would mean the same as Catskills, which is also from Dutch "kat" (cat) + "kill" (stream). Does anyone have any documentation for the history of the town? Lufiend (talk) 19:20, 17 October 2008 (UTC)Reply
The primary source in the article's References section, dated 1897 when the town was in existence about 50 years, states that its name is from the Poesten Kill, an industrially important stream in the county. Of course this yields no information on the origin of "poesten" and the stream's name. Of uncertain reliability, this source states it was likely from the nickname of the owner of a local farm and grist mill. —ADavidB 02:02, 23 October 2008 (UTC)Reply
Added some notes on Dutch etymology which seem to support the Wemp-hypothesis while demolishing the foamtheory ;-). JMMuller (talk) 16:26, 3 April 2010 (UTC)Reply
