The phrase 'the apple of your eye' comes from verses in Deuteronomy 32:10, Psalm 17:8 Proverbs 7:2, and Zechariah 2:8, implying an object or person who is greatly valued. There are several instances in the Old Testament where the apple is used in a more favourable light.
In some versions (such as Young's Literal Translation) of the Bible, the Hebrew word for mandrakes dudaim (Genesis 30:14) is translated as "love apples" (not to be confused with the New World tomatoes). The apple is represented in pictures of the Madonna and Infant Jesus as another sign of that redemption.
In the Old Testament, the apple was significant of the fall of man in the New Testament, it is an emblem of the redemption from that fall. This difference reflects the evolution of the symbol in Christianity. But, when Christ is portrayed holding an apple, he represents the Second Adam who brings life. When held in Adam's hand, the apple symbolises sin. The notion of the apple as a symbol of sin is reflected in artistic renderings of the fall from Eden. The apple as symbol of sexual seduction has sometimes been used to imply sexuality between men, possibly in an ironic vein.įrancisco de Zurbarán - A Virgem da Maçã, 1660-64 The larynx in the human throat has been called Adam's apple because of the folk tale that the bulge was caused by the forbidden fruit sticking in the throat of Adam. The similarity of this word to Latin mălum, meaning 'evil', may also have influenced the apple's becoming interpreted as the biblical "forbidden fruit" in the commonly used Latin translation called " Vulgate". The classical Greek word μήλον (mēlon), or dialectal μᾶλον (mālon), now a loanword in English as melon, meant tree fruit in general, but was borrowed into Latin as mālum, meaning 'apple'. As a result, the apple became a symbol for knowledge, immortality, temptation, the fall of man and sin. The unnamed fruit of Eden thus became an apple under the influence of the story of the golden apples in the Garden of Hesperides. Though the forbidden fruit in the Book of Genesis is not identified, popular Christian tradition holds that Adam and Eve ate an apple from the forbidden tree in the Garden of Eden. It is often an attribute associated with Venus who is shown holding it.Īdam and Eve: a classic depiction of the biblical tale showcasing the apple as a symbol of sin. Thus, secular art as well made use of the apple as symbol of love and sexuality. At times artists would co-opt the apple, as well as other religious symbology, whether for ironic effect or as a stock element of symbolic vocabulary. Its association with knowledge is an allusion to the revelatory states described by some shamans and users of psychedelic mushrooms. Gordon Wasson, Carl Ruck and Clark Heinrich write that the mythological apple is a symbolic substitution for the entheogenic Amanita muscaria (or fly agaric) mushroom. Datura is called "thorn-apple".Įthnobotanical and ethnomycological scholars such as R. In some languages, oranges are called "golden apples" or "Chinese apples". "earth-apples'), just as in French, Dutch, Hebrew, Afrikaans, Persian and Swiss German as well as several other German dialects, the words for potatoes mean "earth-apples". In one Old English work, cucumbers are called eorþæppla (lit. For instance, when tomatoes were introduced into Europe, they were called "love apples". This term may even have extended to plant galls, as they were thought to be of plant origin (see oak apple). One of the problems identifying apples in religion, mythology and folktales is that as late as the 17th century, the word "apple" was used as a generic term for all (foreign) fruit other than berries, but including nuts.
Venus Verticordia – Dante Gabriel Rossetti – 1866Īpples appear in many religious traditions, often as a mystical or forbidden fruit.
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