Where did the word hamburger originate from?
“hamburger” : 1889, ‘hamburg steak’, from the German city of Hamburg, though no certain connection has ever been put forth, and there may not be one beyond that of Hamburg being a major port of departure for German immigrants to U.S. Shortened form ‘burger’ attested from 1939; ‘beefburger’ was attempted 1940, in an attempt to make the main ingredient more explicit, after the ‘-burger’ had taken on a life of its own as a suffix (cf. ‘cheeseburger’, first attested 1938). The city of Hamburg takes its name from the first permanent building on the site, a fortress ordered built by Emperor Charlemagne in 808 AD. The castle was named “Hammaburg”, where “burg” means ‘fortress’. The “Hamma” element remains uncertain, as does the location of this fortress.
