Word of the Week: GELENDVAGEN - ГЕЛЕНДВАГЕН

This week's Word of the Week is one of my Russian favorites. My impression is that it is a recent addition to the Russian vocabulary, reflecting the type of car many Russians have been coveting since the end of the USSR. Geländewagen (all-terrain vehicle) became гелендваген (gelendvagen). This term was probably only used for the Mercedes Benz G-Class at the beginning, but seems to have become a generic term for off-road vehicles, giving rise to some typically Russian nicknames such as Гелик (Gelik), Гелен (Gelen) and Гелендос (Gelendos). The German pronunciation poses some challenges for Russian speakers, resulting in the loss of the "e" at the end of Gelände and a shift of stress from "ä" to the "a" in "vagen". 

The image is from www.gelandewagen.org.