Hawaiianisms; righteous

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>In Kihei, I spotted a "hamburg" dish. I suppose that's the same as the
>Japanese hambaagu, made by cooking a mixture of ground beef, vegetables and
>sauce.

I think the Japanese "hambaagu [suteiki]" is etymologically identical to
the English (US) "hamburg [steak]", although the typical referent may have
regional variations. The usual current US form would be "hamburger
[steak]", I think. The referent would be a lump or patty of ground beef
with more or less of various fillers (often more fillers in East Asia than
in US in my very limited experience). As I mentioned in an earlier message
the term "hamburger steak" has existed (US) alongside the apparently
synonymous "hamburg steak" since the 1890's, with "hamburger steak"
predominating only since the 1940's or so. I would suppose that the
English/Hawaiian "hamburg" is merely a conservative equivalent of
"hamburger", then, rather than an adoption from Japanese, although given
that it's in Hawaii one might suppose that this conservative form might be
stabilized by Japanese tourism. I deny any expertise.

-- Doug Wilson