The Arabic "al-kuhl" is said to be the origin for the English word alcohol (and Alkohol in German). It derives from a reference to kohl, which was a kind of powdered eyeliner made via an extraction or distillation process from a natural mineral. In Europe, chemists referred to anything produced through an extraction process as alcohol.

A day without a cup or more of java: unimaginable for coffee lovers. Little do they know that the word coffee, or Kaffee in German, comes from Italian caffè, which in turn is derived from Turkish kahve, which goes back to the old Arabic word for wine, qahwah. Wine? For Muslims forbidden to drink alcoholic beverages, coffee became their stimulant — and was even known as the "wine of Islam."

To sweeten your coffee, you might need a spoonful of sugar. Arabic traders brought "sukkar" to Europe many hundreds of years ago. They originally got the word from Sanskrit, "sharkara," which meant "grit, gravel." The product and the word survived, it's zucchero in Italian, azucar in Spanish, Zucker in German and sucre in French.

Cup of sweetened coffee in hand, take a seat on the sofa. The Arabic-speaking world seemed to have a knack for luxury and comfort: the word "suffa" referred to a raised platform with carpeting to sit on, a seat of honor. The furniture concept and the term cropped up in Europe and European languages in the 17th century.

In Arabic, "matrah" was the place where you tossed cushions. It passed into Latin as materacium, and from there into Italian and other European languages. Voila, the word for a comfortable sleeping surface stuck, turning into mattress in English, Matratze in German, and matelas in French.

Newsweek, Vogue and co: Glossy magazines also come from the Arabic. "Makzin" — storehouse — became magazzino in Italian, and magasin in French, which means shop. That's how the term made it's way into English and German. Magazines are in fact a depot of sorts — a place to keep stories, pictures and information on paper.

This long-necked African animal derives its English and German name from the Arabic word "zarafa," via Italy. The ancient Romans knew the exotic animal Julius Caesar once presented in a triumphal procession in Rome. Medieval Europeans called the mysterious animal few had actually seen "camelopard," a combination of a camel and a leopard.

Sparkling water added to apple juice, or any other juice: All Germans know this as the "Schorle." It's a popular and widespread drink in the country, yet any translators' discussion forum will show there's not even an established term to describe it when abroad. You might say apple spritzer in the US, but you're better off calling it "apple juice mixed with sparkling water" to make things clear.

Germany is the country of the Beer Purity Law, so you'd expect all Germans to be purists with their brew. Yet the Berliner Weisse, a cloudy, sour white beer with around three percent alcohol by volume, is traditionally served mixed with syrup — either raspberry ("Himbeer") or woodruff ("Waldmeister") — giving it a bright red or green color. The mix is now even available in bottles.

Beer-based mixed drinks are popular in Germany. A beer mixed with a lemon-lime soda is called a "Radler," which is also the word for a cyclist. Many bike riders prefer this beverage to a beer when they take a break on their Sunday afternoon bicycle tour. Different English-speaking countries know this mix as a shandy, but you'll probably get puzzled looks if you try to order one in the US.

This combination is definitely not as common as the Radler, but you won't get an "are you crazy?" reaction if you order it in Germany: Bananenweizen is made by topping a wheat beer with banana juice.

The Urban Dictionary defines a diesel beer as a real "hardcore beer." In Germany, it's rather the name of another mix that sweetens a beer and lowers its alcohol percentage: half of it is cola. Depending on the region, other names for the coke-beer mix include Colabier, Mazout, Kalter Kaffee (cold coffee), Moorwasser (moor water), Schmutziges (dirty) or Krefelder (inhabitant of the city Krefeld).

While we're on the case of cola, Germans will all agree on the name of this classic soft drink: the Spezi. It's a mix of cola and orange soda that appeared on the market shortly after World War II. While the brewery Brauhaus Riegele in Augsburg owns the "Spezi" trademark, hoping to monopolize the use of the name, Spezi has nevertheless remained the generic term to design any cola-orange mix.

It became the iconic drink of Berlin clubbers and computer hackers over the last decades, but the caffeinated carbonated beverage was invented in 1924 by a Bavarian beverage producer. It was called Sekt-Bronte until the Loscher Brewery acquired the license in 1994 and started marketing it as Club-Mate. The caffeine comes from yerba mate, a plant traditionally used in South America for tea.

KiBa? It's not uncommon to see the drink listed on a restaurant menu, but you won't find its definition in a German dictionary. Still, most people in the country will know that it's a mix of cherry ("Kirsche") and banana ("Banane") juice. Germans love to create abbreviations using the first syllable of each word.

The liquid that is removed from sauerkraut — fermented cabbage — and processed into a juice form is known as an ancient miracle cure. Even though it is not a massively popular drink among Germans, it is inexplicably available in all types of stores, not only in organic markets, but also in health and beauty retailers and discounter chains.

It's the fantastic name of a coffee substitute made from barley malt. Different theories circulate to explain the origins of the word. One claimed that it derived from the French "mocca faux" (fake mocca) — but that has been meanwhile rejected. Another explanation comes from the Rhenish dialect, where "Mucken" means brown dusty earth and "fuck" is lazy. The term is also used for very weak coffee.