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left-of-center2012

(34,195 posts)
Sat Apr 10, 2021, 10:47 AM Apr 2021

Was the 'forbidden fruit' in the Garden of Eden really an apple?

What's the likely identity of the "forbidden fruit" described in the Bible's Garden of Eden, which Eve is said to have eaten and then shared with Adam? If your guess is "apple," you're probably wrong. The Hebrew Bible doesn't actually specify what type of fruit Adam and Eve ate. "We don't know what it was. There's no indication it was an apple," Rabbi Ari Zivotofsky, a professor of brain science at Israel's Bar-Ilan University, told Live Science.

Over the years, rabbis have written that the fruit could have been a fig, because in the Hebrew Bible, Adam and Eve realized they were naked after eating from the tree of knowledge, and then used fig leaves to cover themselves. Or maybe, some rabbis wrote, it was wheat, because the Hebrew word for wheat, "chitah," is similar to the word for sin, "cheit," Zivotofsky said. Grapes, or wine made from grapes, are another possibility. Finally, the rabbis wrote that it might have been a citron, or "etrog" in Hebrew — a bittersweet, lemon-like fruit used during the Jewish fall festival of Sukkot, a harvest celebration in which Jews erect temporary dwellings.

Given all of these potential forbidden fruits, how did apples — which aren't even from the Middle East, but from Kazakhstan in Central Asia — become the predominant interpretation? Instead, the possible path from fruit to apple began in Rome in A.D. 382., when Pope Damasus I asked a scholar named Jerome to translate the Bible into Latin.

"The word ["malum"] in Latin translates into a word in English, apple, which also stood for any fruit ... with a core of seeds in the middle and flesh around it. But it was a generic term [for fruit] as well," Appelbaum told Live Science. Apple had this generic meaning until the 17th century, according to the Online Etymological Dictionary. Jerome likely chose the word "malum" to mean fruit, because the very same word can also mean evil, Appelbaum said. So it's a pun, referring to the fruit associated with humans' first big mistake with a word that also means essentially that.

https://www.livescience.com/what-was-forbidden-fruit-in-eden.html

18 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Was the 'forbidden fruit' in the Garden of Eden really an apple? (Original Post) left-of-center2012 Apr 2021 OP
Middle East Claire Oh Nette Apr 2021 #1
Think "Cedars of Lebanon" RainCaster Apr 2021 #4
Yeah, I think Christmas trees first became popular in Germany during Martin Luthor's time Clash City Rocker Apr 2021 #7
This message was self-deleted by its author HUAJIAO Apr 2021 #2
Then Eve blamed the snake, and he didn't have a leg to stand on. Beakybird Apr 2021 #3
Lol Fullduplexxx Apr 2021 #12
Oy PJMcK Apr 2021 #13
Interesting, thanks for posting this Clash City Rocker Apr 2021 #5
The professor's name is Appelbaum - LOL nt ramblin_dave Apr 2021 #6
The actual forbidden fruit was knowledge. Girard442 Apr 2021 #8
I like this explanation pandr32 Apr 2021 #10
The answer is obvious. 5X Apr 2021 #9
Yeah cojoel Apr 2021 #15
It became apple the same way jesus became a blue eyed white guy Fullduplexxx Apr 2021 #11
The Garden of Eden was in Iowa, and the real Chosen People were Americans. Midnight Writer Apr 2021 #14
Well...when Cain left the garden, there were already cities and people, so Adam and Eve can't have Karadeniz Apr 2021 #16
Dates? and fermenting started soon after? n/t JustFiveMoreMinutes Apr 2021 #17
Also who exactly did Cain and Able have sex with? Voltaire2 Apr 2021 #18

Claire Oh Nette

(2,636 posts)
1. Middle East
Sat Apr 10, 2021, 10:52 AM
Apr 2021

Do apple trees grow in the Middle East?

Probably aren't many evergreens either, but that never stopped Christmas trees....

Response to left-of-center2012 (Original post)

Clash City Rocker

(3,539 posts)
5. Interesting, thanks for posting this
Sat Apr 10, 2021, 11:06 AM
Apr 2021

The likely location of the Garden of Eden, based on four rivers that are mentioned in Genesis as being nearby, is modern day Iraq. I doubt many apples grow near Iraq.

I’d never heard an explanation for why people think it was an apple. That’s a nice theory.

Girard442

(6,384 posts)
8. The actual forbidden fruit was knowledge.
Sat Apr 10, 2021, 11:19 AM
Apr 2021

The serpent (metapborically speaking) might have been humankind's greatest benefactor.

Midnight Writer

(22,930 posts)
14. The Garden of Eden was in Iowa, and the real Chosen People were Americans.
Sat Apr 10, 2021, 01:36 PM
Apr 2021

And the apple was an alien device that accelerated evolution and made people smart.

Karadeniz

(23,339 posts)
16. Well...when Cain left the garden, there were already cities and people, so Adam and Eve can't have
Sat Apr 10, 2021, 02:12 PM
Apr 2021

Been the first people. Was Eden even on earth? I doubt it.

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