Back to Russia this week where there is a lot more hunting going on than in Germany. Still, the Russian word for hunting bag is of German origin - Jagdtasche became ягдташ (pronounced yagtásh.) 

Judging by the spread of our hunting terminology, we Germans must have been superior hunters in the past. Apparently, German technical terms to do with hunting abound in several other languages. You might encounter some Danish terms in a future post.

The picture is from www.semin-knife.ru

This week's pick is one of my absolute favorites, simply because it is so widely used. Dutch speakers use it all the time - it has become an integral part of their language. And what I like about it most is that they usually don't even realize that überhaupt is German, despite the telltale dots on the u. Without them, it would be pronounced exactly the same way in Dutch, so one wonders why they are still there. In German, überhaupt is a word that carries many nuances. It can be translated into English as "in general", "at all", and a variety of other things when combined with other words. The caption on the poster above reads "Be glad you are getting some help at all", and this is by far the most dominant use of überhaupt in Dutch. 

The picture is from utrecht.sp.nl.

There don't seem to be that many exciting German words in French, and of those I know, this week's featured word is definitely the most intriguing. But vasistas is apparently also used in Italian and Turkish. It is derived from the German Was ist das? (What's that?) and designates a transom window or skylight. If you want to hear it sung by Bénabar, click here.

The picture is from www.brocantecourt.com.

The first Word of the Week to come from the English language is to abseil, an adaptation of the original German (sich) abseilen ("to descend on a rope"). The Dutch use it, too (abseilen). 

The picture is from www.abseilafrica.co.za.