What’s the Origin of the Name 'Hamburger' Despite the Absence of Ham?

While hamburgers are widely recognized for their beef patties, many assume the name originates from a time when ham was used instead. However, this isn’t the case—though ham and hamburgers share an intriguing historical link.

The Evolution from Steak to Sandwich

As early as the 1600s, the term Hamburger denoted someone from Hamburg, Germany. Renowned for its long-standing tradition of producing high-quality beef, the city’s Hamburg beef was considered a premium delicacy in the 1800s, as noted in Andrew F. Smith’s book Hamburger: A Global History.

Smith noted that one popular method for preparing fresh Hamburg beef involved chopping, seasoning, and shaping it into patties, which had to be consumed immediately. However, this wasn’t practical for enthusiasts across Europe and North America, leading them to use non-Hamburg beef for these Hamburg-style patties. By the late 1800s, these became known as “Hamburg steaks” or “Hamburger steaks.”

The origin of placing a Hamburger steak between bread to create the modern hamburger remains unclear, with several American chefs claiming the innovation. It’s equally plausible that multiple individuals independently conceived the idea, as Hamburger steaks were often accompanied by bread. Regardless, the sandwich-style hamburger rose to fame in the early 1900s, and the term hamburger—short for hamburger steak—became synonymous with it.

If the abbreviation had stopped there, the link between hamburgers and Hamburg might be more apparent today, sparing people from questioning the role of ham. However, the abbreviation didn’t end there.

Skip the Ham

By the 1930s, Americans had already begun referring to hamburgers as “burgers.” This shift is understandable, given that hamburger is a misleading term for a dish primarily made from beef, not ham. This change also allowed burger to become a versatile root word: Cheeseburger appeared in the written record around the same period, and vegeburger emerged in the 1940s.

It’s somewhat ironic that hamburgers became so detached from their namesake city due to people mistakenly splitting the word incorrectly. Originally, hamburger derived from Hamburg and the suffix -er, but it was later misdivided into ham and burger.

Linguists refer to this type of incorrect morpheme division as rebracketing. Take helicopter, for instance. The term entered English via the French hélicoptère, which combines the Greek helix (“spiral”) and pteron (“wing”). Thus, helicopter should logically be divided into helico- and -pter. However, it has been rebracketed as heli- and -copter, with the latter becoming a nickname for helicopters and a flexible root word (consider gyrocopter). Surprisingly, hamburgers and helicopters share more similarities than one might expect.

To clarify, hamburgers were never made from ham originally. However, they might share an etymological connection with the meat. The word ham originates from hamma, an Old High German term referring to the back of the knee. One theory suggests that the ham in Hamburg also stems from hamma, meaning “bend” or “angle,” referencing the city’s location on a river bend, as noted by the Online Etymology Dictionary.

Another prominent theory traces it to the Middle High German hamme, meaning “enclosed pastureland.” Either way, it’s a fitting connection—after all, what better use for a fenced pasture than raising cattle?

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