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Old English 鎝pel, related to Old Saxon appel, Old Norse apall. Modern German Apfel, In.modern Icelandic, apple is epli but the Old Norse root can be seen in appelsina, orange
In a well known story, Eve gave Adam an apple when she tempted him in the Garden of Eden. However, the Biblical version of the myth does not mention an apple: it refers only to ‘fruit’. The Hebrew word was tappuah. This was at one time thought to imply apple, as the Arabic tuffah meant apple. However, apples were rare in the region of Palestine. It has been suggested that the fruit given by Eve to Adam, in the ancient myth, was a citron, apricot or quince. As the first two did not reach the Middle East until much later, it is probable that the fruit was a quince.apricot 16th century apricock via southern European languages from Arabic al-birquq. It is related to the Latin praecox, early ripening, from which we get precocious. |
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