apple

The word apple once meant much more than the familiar orchard fruit: Old English æppel could refer to fruit generally, a ball or sphere, or even an eyeball. It came through Proto-Germanic aplaz from reconstructed Proto-Indo-European h₂ébōl, “apple.” English appel in the Middle Ages still named other fruits and nuts, and even a ball; the narrower everyday meaning became prominent over time. The word’s history beyond the Germanic family is uncertain: a non-Indo-European borrowing has been proposed, while a shared Indo-European origin has also been suggested, but proposed connections to other branches have not won general acceptance. The apple in Eden is a later tradition, not a fruit identified in Genesis. Its association may have been encouraged by Latin mālum, “apple,” and malum, “evil.”