Wednesday 17 June 2020

Adam's apple


There are two main theories as to the origin of the term "Adam's apple". The "Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable" and the 1913 edition of Webster's Dictionary point at an "ancient belief that a piece of forbidden fruit was embedded in Adam's throat"...

However, neither the Bible nor other Judeo-Christian writings mention such a story. In fact, the biblical story does not even specify the type of fruit that Adam ate...

Linguist Alexander Gode claimed that the Latin phrase to designate the laryngeal prominence was very probably translated incorrectly from the beginning...

The phrase in Latin was "pomum Adami" (literally: 'Adam's apple'). This, in turn, came from the Hebrew "tappuach ha adam" meaning "apple of man"...

According to the proponents of this theory, the confusion lies in the fact that in Hebrew language the proper name "Adam" (אדם) literally means "man". At the same time the late Hebrew word for "bump" is very similar to the word for "apple"...So we get "Adam's apple"...

Also, Adam's apple, the area of the thyroid cartilage that appears more prominent on the front of the neck, is indeed mostly seen in men following puberty, but it can occur in women, too...So this apple is not exclusively "Apple of man"...

But, there is one "apple" which only men have 🙂 

The true "apple of man"? Or just me being bored...Any equally bored biblical scholars around? I bet this completely changes the meaning of "the apple Eve gave to Adam" 🙂 And why apple is the symbol of love and marriage...

No comments:

Post a Comment