Re: phonology of borrowed words

Christophe Grandsire scripsit:

> > And didn't hamburger come from the Tatars?
>
> I don't know about this one.
Yes, indeed.  They devised the raw version ("steak tartare"; see
http://www.meilleurduchef.com/cgi/mdc/l/fr/recettes/boeuf/steak_tartare.html)
It's pretty important to go to a butcher and get an appropriate
(i.e. tough but tasty) cut of meat ground for you, and not just buy
preground God-knows-what.  You can also use a knife and whittle away at
the meat yourself, of course.

Anyway, apparently the stuff spread across the Baltic Sea to Hamburg, Germany,
where it began to be cooked.  This version spread to America in the
1880's, acquired a bun, and the rest is history.  (An offshoot went
to England, where it met up with doctor/health nut J. H. Salisbury and
became the salisbury steak.)

--
John Cowan   jcowan@reutershealth.com  http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
Most languages are dramatically underdescribed, and at least one is
dramatically overdescribed.  Still other languages are simultaneously
overdescribed and underdescribed.  Welsh pertains to the third category.
        --Alan King

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