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An article titled “The Origin of Tonteki… Oh, So That’s It! Then Bifuteki Must Be… What?!” circulated on Facebook. (The quotation below does not appear when viewed over https, so please use http….)

トンテキの由来…あ、そういうことね！はいじゃあビフテキも…え！？…ああ。

To summarize briefly:

  • “Tonteki” combines ton, meaning pork, with the teki from bifuteki
  • It is also known as a specialty of Yokkaichi City
  • One might assume that “bifuteki” abbreviates beef steak
  • But it actually came from the French word bifteck, meaning steak (source: Nippon Ham 1). What a surprise!

That is the article, but what a shame. It was just one step away. If only it had investigated the origin of bifteck….

The etymology of the French bifteck can be found here 2.

According to this source, bifteck first appears in 1805 in Trad. Souvenirs de Paris, on page 267 3. It came from Beef Steak, which first appeared in Britain in 1735. Taking that extra step, therefore:

  • Incidentally, the French bifteck was a coinage derived from the English “beef steak” (beaf steak).

So, “I thought ‘bifuteki’ was not ‘beef steak’ but the French ‘bifteck,’ only to find that ‘bifteck’ itself was an abbreviation of ‘beef steak,’ meaning that ‘bifuteki’ was ultimately ‘beef steak’ after all.”

Why on earth do I know such a thing…? orz

And that concludes the tale.

beef lamb steak plated meal
beef steak plated meal

 

Footnotes

  1. Nippon Ham, “‘Bifuteki’ Isn’t ‘Beef Steak’?!”, http://www.nipponham.co.jp/recipes/meat/column/03.html
  2. BIFTECK, subst. masc. ÉTYMOL. ET HIST. − 1735 Beeft Steks, à l’Angloise (Le cuisinier moderne qui apprend à donner toutes sortes de repas, La Haye, t. 3, chap. 10, p. 196); 1786 beef-stake cont. anglo-amér. (Chastellux, Voy. dans l’Amér., sept., I, 78 dans Bonn.); 1805 biffteck (Trad. Souvenirs de Paris, A. Kotzebue, Paris, Chaignieau, t. 1, p. 267); 1807 bifteck(Viard, Cuisinier Impérial, p. 97 dans Bonn.). Empr. à l’angl. beef-steak (FEW t. 18, p. 21) attesté dep. 1711 (Addison dans NED) et composé de beef « viande de bœuf » (d’où le fr. bif « bœuf », 1660 et (rôt de) bif, 1698 dans Mack. t. 1, p. 78) emprunté à l’a.fr. boef, buef, v. bœuf; et de steak « tranche ». http://www.cnrtl.fr/etymologie/bifteck
  3. Trad. Souvenirs de Paris, A. Kotzebue, Paris, Chaignieau, t. 1, p. 267

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