Any or none, it seems. “Despite the large number of cartoons and the almost universally accepted tradition, the Bible does not say that Eve ate an apple. Why then is it so popular to believe that she did?
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Genesis most definitely records that she did eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. So why do people think of an apple? One reason is that the Latin word for evil is malum and the Latin word for apple is also malum.
In the fourth century AD, the word malum appeared in the Latin Vulgate translation of Genesis in the phrase ‘the tree of knowledge of good and evil’. From that time on people began to associate the apple with the fruit which Eve ate” (Answers in Genesis).
Islamic religious literature repeats the same narrative, more or less, but critical biliteral etymology appears to conclude that in pure etymology terms, the narrative does not make sense.
The reason is that the narrative of Adam and Eve is before history when early humans spoke no surviving language but perhaps a primitive tongue that consisted of a few single-letter words and a huge number of body language signs and gestures. Four of five single-letter words have been identified but unique sounds are very limited and such a language would be made of no more than three or four dozen words.
Whether the fruit is an apple, a tomato, a passion fruit, a pomegranate or any other type of fruit, none such words would have been sufficiently critical to warrant the invention of a special word for them in a way similar to critical words such as water, food, danger, mother, father, all, kill, hunt, etc.
The construction of any of the above words is very recent in terms of historical etymology and all are post-agricultural era. During the long Stone Age, surviving languages confirm a state of almost universal biliteralism, i.e. words made of two cardinal letters and compounds of biliterals the best example of which is English.
Arabic, Hebrew, Latin, Greek, English, etc., are founded on about 450 Stone Age biliteral roots. About 4,000 years ago temple linguists in Mesopotamia were not aware of the origins of the triliterals or extended words they used for their religious books including subsequent epics such as Atra Hasis and Enûma Eliš . The assumption was that human beings spoke the language of temple linguists which is not the case.
For example, malum, should not have been translated into “knowledge” as it means no more than “known”. Its biliteral origin is *LM, the same origin as Talmud, English “meadow” and Ancient Arabic mad “extend,” and madeed “extended, elongated.”
Finding a triliteral or extended word in the times of Eve is like finding an iPad in an Ancient Egyptian temple. Finding a word like “malum” is like finding An Egyptian temple in an iPad.
A few Akkadian (our ancestral Babylonian and Assyrian) entries:
1. armannu : [Country → Trees] apricot tree (?), apricot, kind of pomegranate, “mountain apple”; branch used as a drug, kernel used as perfume;
2. arsuppu : [Animals → Fishes] 1) a carp
3. ḫašḫūr api : [Country → Fruits] marsh apple
4. ḫašḫūru : [Country → Fruits] 1) apple; 2) an apple-tree;
5. ḫinzūru : [Country → Fruits] 1) an apple, an apple-tree; 2): also
6. šapāṣu : [Army] G. to clasp, enfold with one’s arms Gt. to wrestle, grapple D. to keep enfolded; stat.: to be enfolded (by sth.: +acc.)
7. šigūšu : [Agriculture]: 1) a type of barley, millet (?); 2) bread / flour of
8. enēbu : [Country → Fruits] to fruit, to fructify, to yield fruit;
Our Maltese audience may recognise arman(u) in rummien and għeneb (grapes) in enēbu, a triliteral from *NB “plants, emerge, etc.”
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Genesis most definitely records that she did eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. So why do people think of an apple? One reason is that the Latin word for evil is malum and the Latin word for apple is also malum.
In the fourth century AD, the word malum appeared in the Latin Vulgate translation of Genesis in the phrase ‘the tree of knowledge of good and evil’. From that time on people began to associate the apple with the fruit which Eve ate” (Answers in Genesis).
Islamic religious literature repeats the same narrative, more or less, but critical biliteral etymology appears to conclude that in pure etymology terms, the narrative does not make sense.
The reason is that the narrative of Adam and Eve is before history when early humans spoke no surviving language but perhaps a primitive tongue that consisted of a few single-letter words and a huge number of body language signs and gestures. Four of five single-letter words have been identified but unique sounds are very limited and such a language would be made of no more than three or four dozen words.
Whether the fruit is an apple, a tomato, a passion fruit, a pomegranate or any other type of fruit, none such words would have been sufficiently critical to warrant the invention of a special word for them in a way similar to critical words such as water, food, danger, mother, father, all, kill, hunt, etc.
The construction of any of the above words is very recent in terms of historical etymology and all are post-agricultural era. During the long Stone Age, surviving languages confirm a state of almost universal biliteralism, i.e. words made of two cardinal letters and compounds of biliterals the best example of which is English.
Arabic, Hebrew, Latin, Greek, English, etc., are founded on about 450 Stone Age biliteral roots. About 4,000 years ago temple linguists in Mesopotamia were not aware of the origins of the triliterals or extended words they used for their religious books including subsequent epics such as Atra Hasis and Enûma Eliš . The assumption was that human beings spoke the language of temple linguists which is not the case.
For example, malum, should not have been translated into “knowledge” as it means no more than “known”. Its biliteral origin is *LM, the same origin as Talmud, English “meadow” and Ancient Arabic mad “extend,” and madeed “extended, elongated.”
Finding a triliteral or extended word in the times of Eve is like finding an iPad in an Ancient Egyptian temple. Finding a word like “malum” is like finding An Egyptian temple in an iPad.
A few Akkadian (our ancestral Babylonian and Assyrian) entries:
1. armannu : [Country → Trees] apricot tree (?), apricot, kind of pomegranate, “mountain apple”; branch used as a drug, kernel used as perfume;
2. arsuppu : [Animals → Fishes] 1) a carp
3. ḫašḫūr api : [Country → Fruits] marsh apple
4. ḫašḫūru : [Country → Fruits] 1) apple; 2) an apple-tree;
5. ḫinzūru : [Country → Fruits] 1) an apple, an apple-tree; 2): also
6. šapāṣu : [Army] G. to clasp, enfold with one’s arms Gt. to wrestle, grapple D. to keep enfolded; stat.: to be enfolded (by sth.: +acc.)
7. šigūšu : [Agriculture]: 1) a type of barley, millet (?); 2) bread / flour of
8. enēbu : [Country → Fruits] to fruit, to fructify, to yield fruit;
Our Maltese audience may recognise arman(u) in rummien and għeneb (grapes) in enēbu, a triliteral from *NB “plants, emerge, etc.”
Image: Lilith, the most famous painting by English artist John Collier. Wikipedia.
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Last modified: August 27, 2017
