• Mr Fish@lemmy.world
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    25 days ago

    Krankenwagen = sick car = ambulance

    Krankenhaus = sick house = hospital

    German (as well as most of the germanic family) does word construction really well.

    • uniquethrowagay@feddit.org
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      25 days ago

      The “en” part puts “krank” in genitive though, so “car of the sick” or “sick’s car” would be a more accurate translation. The car is not sick after all.

      • Hofmaimaier@feddit.orgOP
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        25 days ago

        Kranke Bewegung, but we don’t say it in that context, not even for Parkinson patients who literally got sick moves.

      • tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip
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        24 days ago

        Interesting what languages go with, as Japanese keeps the save part but drops the protect in favor of hurry/emergency, so it’s the “hurry up and save you car” 救急車

        Even ambulance itself comes from the French phrase walking hospital, and then the hospital part got dropped. We still retain the word ambulant to mean moving in English