Tollpatsch, which means klutz in German, comes from the Hungarian word talpas - literally "soled" - which was used to refer to Hungarian foot soldiers in the 17th century.
János Togay Can, the director of Berlin's Collegium Hungaricum, explained in a radio interview at the contest's awards ceremony that the word probably took its derogatory meaning when Austrian soldiers mocked soldiers from Transylvania - used to marching across the rain-soaked and snow-covered landscape of their homeland - for the way they marched on the firmer Austrian soil.
Barbara Eulberg of Berlin, who submitted Tollpatsch for the contest, beat entries from more than 3,500 contenders from 45 countries. For her efforts, she won a trip for two to the land of origin of her favourite "migratory" word.
In second place was the word Currywurst, which a contestant described as a "dream couple: the old German word Wurst living in a happy marriage with Curry. In third place was the word Engel - angel in German - "which has crossed borders, cultures and ages".
The contest was organised by the Goethe Institute, which promotes German culture abroad, and the German Language Office, in cooperation with Duden, Hueber Verlag, Studiosus-Reisen and Welt Kompakt.
The awards ceremony for the contest was held on April 25, within the framework of a conference on national culture in Berlin's Bode Museum.
Photo: Wikipedia
