I don’t know why I just happened to think of this today, but here is the back story. In 1967 I was spending 6 months at the Foschungsinsititut für Mathematik (Mathematics Research Institute) in Zurich and subletting an apartment. One day, we found a note from the building manager that my German was just enough to know that someone would be coming to replace the Wohnungszylinder. I took the note to the institute where neither of the two secretaries, both from Zurich had any idea what it was. Come the day in question and we found out. My question is, is it plausible that they didn’t know?
I just googled Wohnungszylinder in English andd Prof. Google answered: Apartment cylinder. Really helpful. It turned out to be the apartment lock cylinder. They replaced it and gave us new keys.
I’m a native German and have never heard that word, but I instantly thought that it must be a lock cylinder. The correct technical term is “Schließzylinder”. It seems that whoever wrote the note didn’t know the correct term and made up their own, which is easy to do in German.
English: This is a useful phrase.
German: Yes! Let’s just make it a word!
Considering the OP was at the Foschungsinsititut für Mathematik (Mathematics Research Institute) in Zürich I would blame Schweizerdeutsch. I did not know the word either, but would have guessed right.
First, isn’t it Forschungsinsititut?
Second, count on the Swiss to replace your toilet paper rolls when they are empty. Such precision!
As a non-native resident of Switzerland, I would agree. As the two secretaries didn’t understand the word, I might go a step further and guess it was a non-native speaker who may have only picked up Swiss German on the job and never had formal schooling.
Or it here just wasn’t enough space to write Wohnungsschleisszylinder.
Of course it is. Sorry. Let me add that I wondered at the time if it was the lock cylinder. The only other identifiable cylinder in the apt. was the water heater that was a large brass cylinder hanging over the bathtub that we had to turn on when we wanted hot water.
It is interesting that several of you who didn’t recognize the word guessed right.
Incidentally, if you just google Wohnungszylinder (instead of asking for a translation) you find a site that shows several of them for sale.
It was quite obvious for me, because I couldn’t think of any other cylinder in an apartment the landlord could be wanting to exchange than a lock cylinder.
Same logic, same conclusion, though I also considered a florescent light bulb.