German translation needed

I need a translation into German of the word "minion," that keeps the modern connotation of a servant who does the dirty work for an unpleasant master. I only get Gunstling from babelfish (that should be a u-umlaut but I don't know how to insert one in there), but that translates back as "favorite," which isn't the word I need. I'd appreciate any suggestions, as three semesters of German didn't cover vocabulary needed for a fantasy novel with a bad guy who's from Austria.

What's the word for an ordinary servant? That might work. I like der Lakai but it doesn't sound German enough to drop into a conversation for a little flavor--and Speichellecker will make people think I made up a word out of "spellchecker."

The minion in question is a strange man who can transform into a thousand wasps. Maybe I could tack the word for wasp onto the word for servant.

Edit: I found an online German-English dictionary that seems pretty good. I'm thinking Wespediener or maybe Bieneknecht. The latter would actually help me with a plot point since it's bees instead of wasps, but does it make sense as a word? Bienediener just sounds silly, with the repeated "ie" sound. Thanks, by the way!

Gaia said:

...did that make sense?

Click to expand...

Yup.

I decided to go with Bieneknecht. It works, and it's not like this is a textbook or something. I do like Hummelknecht. Hmm, I wonder if it would work better than Bieneknecht. No, I think I'll keep Bieneknecht--it starts with the "bee" sound that will help identify it. And my MC does do a translation of the word as "bee servant," so hopefully that will keep readers from getting confused.

Thanks again!