Stage of in this word's full journey.
Where does the word "sandwich" come from? It comes from Old English Sandwīc, adopted directly into English (1762).
Sandwich’s story begins in Old English: Sandwīc meant “a Kent town.” 'sandy harbour', a Kent port that became one of the Cinque Ports supplying ships to the crown. It reached English by 1762 as sandwich. Named after John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich; Edward Gibbon's journal for 24 November 1762 records gentlemen at a London club eating 'a bit of cold meat, or a Sandwich', while the story that the earl ate them at the gambling table comes from a 1765 French travel book and may be gossip. Today, sandwich means two pieces of bread with a filling between them.