alteration of earlier surloin, modification of early French surlonge, from sur-¹ + loigne, longe: see loin. Ever since the mid-17th cent., it has commonly been claimed that the word sirloin originated when an English king (variously identified as Henry VIII, James I, and Charles II) facetiously knighted a particularly large and succulent loin of beef as Sir Loin. The story cannot give the true origin of the word, for the etymology shown here is unquestionable; if it is true, it can only be that the king was punning on the existing word. The story may well have been responsible, however, for the introduction of the spelling sirloin in the 17th cent. to replace the earlier surloin (the occasional use of surloin as late as the end of the 19th cent. was probably due to pedantry); probably it also gave rise to the use of baron for a joint of beef including two sirloins