Mr. Red,

covered trench is what I meant, thanks. It would be 'Tunnel' or 'Stollen' in German.

Joe and Alan,

my ambiguous language led you both down the garden path. With 'here' I did not mean 'Muenster' but 'in the context of this thread'. But I see that your misunderstanding was nearly unavoidable. Of course I do know and like Stollen. Even Aldi has it and that means it is no longer locally restricted. They do their worst, much to my dismay, to make it no longer restricted in time, and to seel it all the year insted of close to Christmas. But I won't buy it before November, no I won't.

Alan,

I don't know the etymology of the word. For Stollen as a cake I have the association to mining, for all the good things to be found in that cake. But my guess is no better than Alan's and (since that cake originated from the very East of Germany) I wouldn't be too surprised (what comes now is pure phantasy) if I really came from a Slavic word 'stolny' meaning 'tastes good'.

Wolfgang