This makes us forget that Eve actually offered Adam "a
fruit", and this fruit '
mas not believed to be an apple until
much later. Indeed, one of the problems identifying apples
in mythology is that as late as the 17th century, the word
"apple" was used as a generic term for all foreign fruits
apart from berries. When tomatoes were introduced into
Europe, they were called "love apples".
' in Old English,
cucumbers are called eorppla, which literally translated as
"earth apples".
Therefore, the word "apple" can actually
refer to many other fruits in the ancient world. Yet, this
particular fruit was chosen as the "forbidden fruit" and
became the basis from which many other fruits were
named. What is it about the apple that caused this fruit to
become such a sacred symbol in the mythologies of the
world?