To the Editor:

I’d like to let your readers know of a very special event coming up: Dr. Charles Gehring, director of the New Netherlands Research Center at the New York State Museum complex, will explain the origin of the countless Dutch words that still surround us in Guilderland to this very day, even though the English took over 350 years ago!

Many of your readers have friends and neighbors with Dutch surnames, or live on streets and avenues named after early Dutch settlers, or travel to and from towns and villages that still bear Dutch names, or cross over creeks that end with the word “kill.” Dr. Gehring will explain the oddity of this creek designation in his talk, titled “Where a kil is not a Kill and a fly is not a Fly,” but this will be merely a point of departure.

From there, he will touch on many Dutch surnames, from Van Aernam to Van Zandt, and explain why Feura Bush has nothing to do with bushes, Stone Arabia has nothing to do with Arabs, and why Catskill has nothing to do with cats! And even beyond the names of people and places, we’ll learn about many Dutch words that still lurk in our everyday vocabulary.

Several of us attended a version of this talk when Dr. Gehring presented in March at the New Scotland Historic Association, enthusiastically received by over 100 attendees.

We’re sure your readers will be equally fascinated by the Dutch element in our rich Guilderland past: Thursday, Oct. 19, at 7:30 p.m., at the Guilderland Public Library at 2228 Western Avenue. The talk is free and open to the public, cosponsored by GPL and the Guilderland Historical Society.

Tom Capuano

Vice President

Guilderland Historical Society