A lot of the time, German words are easier to understand than English words. Take, for example, the word 'eulogy', which in German is 'Lobrede' or 'praise speech'. No need to know Greek. Or the strange animal that is a 'duck-billed platypus', which the Germans call 'Schnabeltier', or 'beak animal'.
If you came across the word 'Mutterkuchen', literally 'mother cake', you might be tempted to think it means a cake that is presented to mothers on Mothering Sunday, rather like the traditional Simnel cake in Britain.
Or you might imagine it's a cake that is presented to new mothers shortly after having given birth. Nope.
But it is related to birth. A 'mother cake' is actually a placenta, and both the German and English words are based on the Greek word plakous, plakount- ‘flat cake’, based on plax, plak- ‘flat plate’.
I don't know if it is still the case, but there was a time when eating one's cooked placenta after giving birth was quite the thing. I suppose if you called it a 'mother cake', that might make it more palatable.
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