Again, I don't think German is exceptional in this regard: we have English "catbird" (so called for its call), "bush baby" (for a small primate which is not a b

Again, I don't think German is exceptional in this regard: we have English "catbird" (so called for its call), "bush baby" (for a small primate which is not a baby), "lady finger" (a regional name for okra), "buttercup" (a kind of flower), "kangaroo paw" (a kind of flower), etc. I'd be pretty shocked if a German speaker thought a tortoise had a Schild or really was a Kroete, in the same way I'd be shocked if an English speaker said that a bush baby was an actual baby. Non-compositional noun compounds occur in both languages.