MI Printing: Word Origins: Hot Dog

Claims about the  invention and name hot dog are difficult to assess, as stories make many claims about the "first use" of the sausage, the placing of the sausage on bread or a bun as finger food, the popularization of the existing dish, or the application of the name "hot dog" to a sausage and bun combination most commonly used with ketchup or mustard and sometimes relish.

The word the item itself dates back to the word frankfurter and comes from Frankfurt, Germany, where pork sausages served in a bun similar to hot dogs originated. These sausages, Frankfurter Würstchen, existed since the 13th century and were given to the people on the event of imperial coronations, starting with the coronation of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor as King.

Wiener refers to Vienna, Austria, whose German name is "Wien", home to a sausage made of a mixture of pork and beef. Johann Georg Lahner, a 18th century butcher from the Bavarian city of Coburg is said to have brought the Frankfurter Würstchen to Vienna, where he added beef to the mixture and simply called it Frankfurter.

Nowadays, in German speaking countries, except Austria, hot dog sausages are called Wiener or Wiener Würstchen (meaning "little sausage"), in differentiation to the original pork only mixture from Frankfurt. In Swiss German, it is called Wienerli, while in Austria the terms Frankfurter or Frankfurter Würstel are used.

Around 1870, on Coney Island, German immigrant Charles Feltman began selling sausages in rolls.

Others have supposedly invented the hot dog. The idea of a hot dog on a bun is ascribed to the wife of a German named Antonoine Feuchtwanger, who sold hot dogs on the streets of St. Louis, Missouri, in 1880, because his customers kept taking the white gloves handed to them for eating without burning their hands.

Anton Ludwig Feuchtwanger, a Bavarian sausage seller, is said to have served sausages in rolls at the World's Fair. The rub is which "Fair".  Claims for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago and the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St Louis both are claimed.

Harry M Stevens Inc., founded in 1889, serviced major sports venues with hot dogs and other refreshments, making Stevens known as the "King of Sports Concessions" in the US.

The association between hot dogs and baseball began as early as 1893 with Chris von der Ahe, a German immigrant who owned not only the St. Louis Browns, but also an amusement park.

In 1916, an employee of Feltman's named Nathan Handwerker was encouraged by celebrity clients Eddie Cantor and Jimmy Durante to go into business in competition with his former employer. Handwerker undercut Feltman's by charging five cents for a hot dog when his former employer was charging ten cents.

At an earlier time in food regulation the hot dog suspect, Handwerker made sure that men wearing surgeon's smocks were seen eating at Nathan's Famous to reassure potential customers.