ハム

1798, Shogakukan Nihon Kokugo Daijiten cites 蛮語箋 for ハム and gives Dutch ham as the older source, even though modern ハム also matches English ham. Merriam-Webster traces English ham to Old English hamm, the back of the knee, and later to the thigh cut of a hog. The meat sense in English is clear by the 1630s. The route in Japanese includes Dutch food vocabulary before Meiji and English-style Western food vocabulary in the modern and postwar periods. ハム becomes common with 洋食, sandwiches, hotel menus, school lunches, and processed-meat factories. Related terms show the Japanese category expanding: ボンレスハム, ロースハム, ショルダーハム, プレスハム, 生ハム, ハムエッグ, and ハムサンド. Shogakukan records ハムエッグ in Natsume Soseki's 虞美人草 in 1907. Modern Japanese ハム often means thin sliced processed meat used in sandwiches, salads, bentos, or breakfast plates. English ham more strongly points to cured pork from the hind leg, while Japanese labels include loin ham and pressed ham made from other cuts or mixed meat. The Japan Meat Information Service notes shoulder ham and loin ham within current Japanese product names. A short example is ハムサンドを作る, to make a ham sandwich.