As someone who minored in German. German has a lot of compound words that are pretty literal. Unterseeboot for submarine. "Under water boat." An ambulance is a Krankwagon or "Sickwagon." It makes sense that if they didn't know a word they would make up a new compound word. I used to work in a grocery store. It took me forever to figure out that a Danish guy who wanted "shiny paper" actually meant "alluminum foil."