I don’t think that was intended as an example of a long German word being short in English. Rather, it was an example of the meaning of a word being clear from the word itself.
The word Zäpfchen itself is the diminutive of Zapfen, a stud, peg or pin. E.g. the fruits of needle trees are also called Zapfen, Tannen-, Fichten- or Kiefernzapfen. So Gaumenzäpfchen is a small stud dangling down from the palate.
Uvula? The german says Gaumenzäpfchen. It’s a Zäpfchen and it’s dangling from the Gaumen. Makes sense, no?
Reminds me of the Flammenwerfer!
It’s literally a 1:1 translation of Flamethrower.
There are much better examples for long German words beeing short in English like
Toy = Spielzeug (Play Stuff)
Mall = Einkaufszentrum (Shopping Centre)
Sale = Schlussverkauf (End sale)
Matchbox = Streichholzschachtel (Swipe wood box)
Lighter = Feuerzeug (Fire Creator)
I don’t think that was intended as an example of a long German word being short in English. Rather, it was an example of the meaning of a word being clear from the word itself.
To me it was both. The descriptive nature of words on the one hand and the word length which often comes with it on the other.
Eichhörnchenschwanz is one more nice example (it also works with dialects: oachkatzlschwoaf - an oak cat’s tail) :D
🇳🇱 Eekhoorntjesstaart! (And vlammenwerper of course.)
Google insists that I must have mistyped eekhoorntjestaart. Who am I to argue? 🤷♀️
Didn’t know I’d be thinking about a “palate suppository” when I woke up today, but here it is.
The word Zäpfchen itself is the diminutive of Zapfen, a stud, peg or pin. E.g. the fruits of needle trees are also called Zapfen, Tannen-, Fichten- or Kiefernzapfen. So Gaumenzäpfchen is a small stud dangling down from the palate.
This makes way more sense! (and also makes it obvious I currently do not speak German 😅)
So it’s a girl house.