Europe's news in English

COPY LINK

CHRISTMAS

German word of the day: Der Dominostein

These are dominos that are not meant to be played with, but rather enjoyed as a Christmas sweet.

Published: 3 December 2019 05:54 CET
Updated: 11 December 2020 12:21 CET

German word of the day: Der Dominostein

'Dominosteine' are laid out at the manufacturer Lambertz in Aachen on September 30th. Photo: DPA

What does it mean?

This is a nice compound word, made up of der Domino (domino) and der Stein (board game tile in this context), which is literally translated as “domino tile.” At Christmastime, this word refers to a popular sweet sold in Germany and Austria.

This sweet contains several layers, topped off with a thin layer of (traditionally dark) chocolate icing. It is most known for its cubic shape.

The base layer is der Lebkuchen, or gingerbread, which has a very long tradition of being a popular Christmas treat in Germany.

The next layer is das Gelee, or jelly, made most often from Sauerkirsche (sour cherries) or Aprikose (apricots).

The third and top layer is made from das Marzipan (marzipan).

Three layers of sweets make up the beloved Christmas praline. Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Kaldari.

Where did it come from?

The Dominostein was invented in Dresden in 1936. Traditional praline sweets, which were quite popular at that time, were costly for many people. A man named Herbert Wendler decided to create the Dominostein as a more affordable option.

They gained popularity as a replacement for pralines because of food shortages during World War II. They were even called Notpraline or “need/distress pralines” during this time. The sweet was layer produced primarily by Dresden-based chocolatier Dr. Ing. Quendt.

December 3rd has been declared as Dominosteintag, or “Dominostein Day,” so get out there and enjoy these special German treats!

Example sentences

Bitte gib mir die Dominosteine.

Please give me the domino tile pralines.

Ein traditioneller Dominostein wird mit dunkler Schokolade hergestellt, kann aber auch mit Vollmilch- oder weißer Schokolade hergestellt werden.

A traditional domino tile praline is made with dark chocolate, but it can also be made with milk or white chocolate.

Wenn man Dominosteine sieht, ist es Weihnachtszeit!

When one sees domino tile pralines, then it’s Christmas time!

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.

Become a Member to leave a comment.

German word of the day: Nomenkompositum

The German language is notorious for its long words, many of which are a Nomenkompositum (compound noun).

Interestingly, Das Nomenkompositum is a compound noun itself – made up of the words Nomen (noun) and Kompositum (Composite or compound).

Note that while the term translates to ‘compound noun’, German Nomenkomposita (this is the plural) can be made of nouns, verbs, adjectives or adverbs plus a noun.

Of course outside of grammar school, it is relatively rare that you’d find yourself using Nomenkompositum in a sentence, but if you get a chance it’s a good one for impressing your German speaking friends.

More importantly, however, is understanding that many German words are compound nouns.

It’s not uncommon that a word that looks impossibly long at first glance actually breaks down into two or three words that you’ve heard before.

Some common compound words

It’s commonly understood that German is not the easiest language to learn, but one thing that makes it a little easier is the gratuitous use of compound nouns.

For example, why memorise different words for shoes and gloves when the latter can just be called die Handschuhe (hand-shoes)?

READ ALSO: 10 German words with hilarious literal translations

Some of these verbal amalgamations can be a bit funny – we’re looking at you ‘grief bacon’ (der Kummerspeck), which is the word for when you put on weight due to emotional over-eating. But plenty of other Nomenkomposita are basically the same as their English counterparts.

For example, a water bottle is a die Wasserflasche or sunglasses are die Sonnenbrille.

Even the English word ‘kindergarten’ comes from the German Nomenkompositum.

Some other compound nouns are so commonly used in German that you would be forgiven for forgetting that it is actually made up of multiple words.

Hauptbahnhof, for example, is composed of Haupt (Central) and Bahnhof (train station).

One helpful tip is that a compound word’s gender – and corresponding article (der/die/das) – is determined by the last word in the compound.

So taking the above example, you know that it’s der Hauptbahnhof because Bahnhof is a masculine term.

Some ludicrous compound words

The above examples are all simple Nomenkomposita, made up of just two words put together. But compound words in German can be made up of two, three, four, five or even more words joined together.

While the exceptionally long ones are quite intimidating at first glance, there’s no need to worry – these aren’t words that tend to come up in conversation.

A common one that you’ve probably com across before: die Anmeldebescheinigung – the infamous ‘registration certificate’ that all new residents in Germany must obtain before they can do much of anything else.

READ ALSO: Is renting a flat ‘without Anmeldung’ illegal in Germany?

Exceptionally long German compound words tend not to be too useful in casual conversation, but they can be funny to gawk at.

Among the longest German words is das Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz, which is, of course, the “Beef Labelling Monitoring Transfer of Responsibilities Act”.

The words breaks down into nine parts: Rind (cow) + Fleisch (meat) + Etikettierung (labeling) + Über (over) + Wachung (watching) + Aufgaben (tasks) + Übertragung (transfer) + Tragung (carrying) + Gesetz (law).

At 80 letters long, perhaps the longest German word is die Donaudampfschifffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft, which is a must-know among sailors on Germany’s southern rivers as it refers to the “Danube steamship electricity main works construction sub-civil servant company”.

SHOW COMMENTS

Url copied to clipboard!