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[–] 4 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Ah, I'm afraid that's where even the German language reaches its limits.

As soon as you try to convey several separate notions in one word and you're forced to use "and" in it, it breaks the word. A fine example is the word previously mentioned in this thread:

"Rinderkennzeichnungs- und Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz"

It's a law (Gesetz) on the assignment (Übertragung) of tasks (Aufgaben) concerning the supervision (Überwachung) of cattle identification (Rinderkennzeichnung) AND the labelling (Etikettierung) of beef (Rindfleisch). Hence the "und" in there.

In other words, German compound words are very specific and usually don't carry more than one meaning, I'm sorry to say. :)

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