Origin of the Word ‘Hamburger’
In the 13th and 14th centuries Turkic tribes known as Tatars roamed across the plains of what today is Russia. They were known for chopping meat (probably because it was tough), mixing it with spices, and eating it raw. This idea gravitated to the German town of Hamburg, which became famous for its beefsteak Tatar, ground beef served with onions and spices without benefit of the flame. When this ‘Hamburg steak’ reached the US, it was generally served cooked. The term Hamburger steak first appeared in the January 5, 1889 edition of the Walla Walla (Washington) Union. The steak was soon dropped but it wasn’t until the 1930s that the word cheeseburger appeared and by 1939 hamburger had been shortened to burger. At that point, a flood of compounds with this new word began to appear: fishburger, turkeyburger, baconburger, and so on and on and on. (Today’s word is courtesy of Dr. Goodword, himself a Lewisburger celebrating our nation’s birth today in his hometown, Lewisburg, PA, USA.)
July 4th, 2007 at 7:16 am
Dear doctor,
I’d like to add one comment. As far as I know Tatars were not Turkish tribes, but Turkic. I suppose there is some difference between ‘turkish’ and ‘turkic’. Please, correct me if I’m wrong.
Kat
July 5th, 2007 at 6:47 pm
Funny, I always assumed that the US hamburger was an adaptation of the German snack known variously as Frikadelle, Klopse, or Buletten. They’re made of ground beef or pork and have many more ingredients, and they’re fried. They taste, on the whole, better than hamburgers.
August 5th, 2007 at 5:34 pm
Actually the term “Hamburger” refers to the German immigrants, from Hamburg Germany, that came to New York in early 20th century where they used to fry meat balls (types of frikadellas) with onions to sell in the street. They found that it was a messy meal to sell to people and someone decided (know one knows exactly who) to press down on the meatballs while cooking (to decrease cooking time) and served them between slices of bread or rolls. Thus the hamburger.
January 3rd, 2009 at 1:29 pm
I am wondering what is the true origin and root of the word, “source.” Joseph Shipley’s DICTIONARY OF WORD ORIGINS (1945)traces another similar word, “sorcerer,” but never mentions
“source” in connection with it. Shipley did not trace the word “source” at all.
Recently, on PBS. pop lecturer Dr. Wayne Dyer briefly connected “source” with “sorcerer,” in an effort to persuade his audience that the latter was not pointing to something scary.
I fear this was “pop etymology” or worse.
January 4th, 2009 at 12:25 am
Henry,
Your instincts are correct: ‘source’ and ‘sorcerer’ are unrelated. ‘Source’ came via French from Latin surgere “to rise”, originally based on sub “(from) under” + regere “to lead, regulate”. ‘Sorcerer’ came via French ‘sorciere’, from Latin sortiarius ‘sorcerer’, from Latin sors, sortis “lot, fate, fortune”.
March 7th, 2010 at 5:26 pm
You know, I gotta tell you, I genuinely relish this website and the informative insight. I find it to be energizing and quite instructive. I wish there were more blogs like it. Anyhow, I felt it was about time I posted a comment on Dr. Goodword’s Language Blog » Blog Archive » Origin of the Word ‘Hamburger’ – I just wanna say that you did a great job on this. Cheers dude!
October 9th, 2012 at 11:15 am
Let’s assume a female client walks in and seems to be in fear and terror. If a patient remained obdurate, then he or she would be threatened with expulsion from the hospital. People who are stuck often behave out of defenses built in early life and outside the realm of awareness.
September 23rd, 2015 at 4:59 am
I came to this site because I was curios about the word “hamburger”. Many languages, especially Romance, Germanic, and other European ones have this word, sometimes with this spelling and pronounced similarly. I am guessing that since English is spoken in so many places that this is a borrowed word in those languages. Is that why McDonalds has had international success?
September 23rd, 2015 at 5:14 pm
I think so. Did you see our Good Word hamburger? http://www.alphadictionary.com/goodword/word/hamburger