Today it occurred to me that the German word "Opfer" is used in two senses that have very different words in English.
The "Opfer" of giving up something (involuntarily, painfully, or for someone elses benefit) is called "sacrifice", and the "Opfer" who's had their wallet stolen is a "victim".
Now, the two are close together, as the one who is the victim is also in a way doing the sacrificing, so it's maybe not so strange German uses the same word for both.
What struck me, however, was that both English words in use here are non-Germanic. So I wondered: what is the Germanic word? And what came to mind was: "offer".
Certainly close enough in sound and looks to be the corresponding word. And you can "offer up" something as a sacrifice. The English word, though, appears to have travelled far and wide in the realm of usage and thus retained a general sense of "here, have this" as its meaning, quite neutral and everyday, whereas the German version settled on the much narrower context of a painful parting or loss, so that we needed to come up with a different word for 'suggestion (willingly or in a commercial context) for someone else to take something' (i.e. "here, have this" or 'offer'): Angebot. Which has to do with bidding and opens up a whole new other kettle of fish.
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