I really love some German words, and can only shake my head about how inaccessible English likes to be.
Hydrogen? That's Wasserstoff, "water stuff".
Carbon? Kohlenstoff, "coal stuff".
Triangle? Dreieck, "three corner".
Quadrilateral? Viereck, "four corner".
Pentagon? Fünfeck, "five corner".
Rectangle? Rechteck, "right corner".
Suburb? Vorort, "before the place".
Telescope? Fernrohr, "far pipe".
Television? Fernseher, "far viewer".
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Dentist? Zahnarzt, "tooth doctor".
Dermatologist? Hautarzt, "skin doctor".
Otorhinolaryngologist? Hals-Nasen-Ohren-Arzt, "throat nose ear doctor".
Veterinary? Tierarzt, "animal doctor".
Unicorn? Einhorn, "one horn".
Canine unit? Hundestaffel, "dog group / unit".
Mutton? Schaffleisch, "sheep meat".
Pork? Schweinefleisch, "pig meat".
Refrigerator? Kühlschrank, "cooling cabinet".
Automobile? Fahrzeug, "driving gear".
Aeroplane? Flugzeug, "flying gear".
Bicycle? Fahrrad, "drive wheel".
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Library? Bücherei, "bookery".
Dictionary? Wörterbuch, "word book".
Orthography? Rechtschreibung, "right writing".
Capital? Großbuchstabe, "big letter".
The other capital? Hauptstadt, "head city".
I could go on. There's so much Greek and Latin and French mixed into English, and it often feels so unnecessary. The literal translations often sound entirely understandable.
Any other examples that come to your mind? Also in other languages?
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@vrandecic I find it fascinating that some of it was a deliberate effort—e.g., these words were invented in the 17th century:
„Abstand“ (für Distanz)
„Bücherei“ (für Bibliothek oder Liberey)
„Augenblick“ (für Moment)
„Leidenschaft“ (für Passion)
„Entwurf“ (für Projekt)
„Anschrift“ (für Adresse)
„Briefwechsel“ (für Korrespondenz)
„Lustspiel“ (für Komödie)
„Mundart“ (für Dialekt)
„Rechtschreibung“ (für Orthographie)
„Tagebuch“ (für Journal)
„Verfasser“ (für Autor)
@rauschma @vrandecic Many of these are in use in Swedish today:
Avstånd (distance)
Ögonblick (moment)
Brevväxling (correspondence)
Lustspel (comedy), old-fashioned
Rättskrivning (ortography)
Dagbok (journal, diary)
Författare (author)
and some also in Finnish:
Silmänräpäys, "eye blink"
Kirjeenvaihto, "letter exchange"
Oikeinkirjoitus, "right writing"
Päiväkirja, "day book"
Denny Vrandečić
Axel Rauschmayer
Osma Suominen
Lucas Werkmeister