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Originally Posted by Rasmussen
Boandlgramer wrote :"Schlächter" doesn't came from "Schlacht" (battle) but from the verb "schlachten".
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However you argue it, German and English are related languages and the root word "Schlacht" relates to "slaughter." In English, a slaughterman kills animals, a butcher cuts up the meat from there on. Obviously the two trades overlapped.
The analogies between slaughter for food and battle are obvious - sharp implements and blood everywhere for a start - so trying to separate the different uses of the word is pretty hopeless. If you read about ground fighting, a lot of writers use the term "the butcher's bill" to describe the casualty rate.
BTW: remember that the title of Kurt Vonnegut's novel "Slaughterhouse 5" referred to his time as a PoW whose "prison camp" was "Schlachthof 5" in Dresden.