When it comes to the all-conquering German football team, who are the current FIFA world champions, NIEDERLAGE isn't a word that you'll hear very often, meaning as it does "defeat". I suppose its meaning dervies from NIEDER being low, or "nether", as in "nether regions" or "Netherlands" and LAGE meaning "situation" or "position". You might expect "victory" to be "Oberlage", but it's not. It's SIEG.

tags: football