Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

"Lebensmittel" more represents something like "Life implement" or "means of life".

Edit: Conceptually it maps almost exactly to Latin "nutrimentum", and hence, English "nourishment".

As such, I supposed we could construct some neo-latin from it to more closely approximate it, such as vitimentum or rather vitalimentum - but if you look closely at vitalimentum, you'll notice it contains "alimentum" as a substring, and, well:

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/aliment#Etymology



Or just use victualia (from late Latin), which appears to be derived from victus (nourishment) and vīvō (live, survive).

In English this corresponds to victuals, and in German Viktualien of course¹.

1: E.g., as used in the name of Munich's Viktualienmarkt market square.




Consider applying for YC's Fall 2026 batch! Applications are open till July 27.

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: