APPLE
Wild Word Friday!
I remember hearing as a child that the forbidden fruit eaten by Adam and Eve was an APPLE. Actually, I think my source for this misinformation was a coloring page for Sunday School of Adam and Eve strategically placed among leaves and bushes with APPLEs in their hands. I even remember contemplating that perhaps I should be a little careful as far as eating APPLEs, but I wasn’t much upset about that. APPLEs were fine, but nothing I couldn’t live without. If the forbidden fruit had been chocolate – or orange soda pop – that would have been a whole different story!
Later in life, I came to realize that the Bible story about Adam and Eve really didn’t concern APPLEs. It was all about rebellion against God. About that same time I began to wonder why the APPLE had been given the role of “bad guy” in this situation. A little word sleuthing gives the answer.
In its original form, so old that it may have IndoEuropean roots, APPLE simply meant fruit. It wasn’t specific to type. It was a fruit from a tree. The Gothic word apel, the Old Norse word epli, Middle English appel, and Lithuanian obuolys are among those that fall (pun intended) into this category. The Spanish word for APPLE, manzana, has its roots in the Latin word Matiana, which according to Pliny, was named for a person. Evidently the American folk hero, Johnny APPLEseed, had a predecessor.
Okay, I’m getting hungry here, and we have a bag of lovely Golden Delicious APPLES in the refrigerator. Snack time!
Any favorite APPLE recipes out there? What’s your favorite kind of APPLE?
Blessings!
Sue