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How is it that the fruit of the tree of knowledge between good and evil came to be known as an apple? From Meehans' Monthly 1892:
It is but fair to state that controversies are continually going on as to every incident connected with the account of the creation as given in Genesis, and one is no more likely to reach a positive conclusion on this apple question than on any other. To some everything is literal, - to others it is an allegory, while others take it as being wholly mythical. One might say, however, that the word, apple, in ancient languages did not always mean an apple, as we understand it. Any luscious fruit was considered an apple. We have the same habit in these days; we speak of the love apple, the oak apple, the thorn apple, and the French even make the potato the ground apple; yet these are not apples that the pomologist cares for. It was just so in the olden times; in the Song of Solomon the Queen of Sheba is made to say of Solomon, “As the apple tree, among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons of men.” This could not be said of our apple tree, which is a low bushy affair, and would compare with none of the trees of the woods, and we suppose that must have been true in the Queen of Sheba's time. Again the Queen of Sheba says, as if addressing Solomon, “Comfort me with apples,” and which expression surely would not refer to the apple as we understand it. All that can be said on this question is, that the apple of our orchards is the oldest fruit known to have been cultivated; all other fruits followed long after. Even the uncivilized men, the early Adams of the race, knew probably no fruit but the apple. Commentators on the account of the Creation and the Garden of Eden, have therefore decided that whatever fruit might have been intended, the apple is the only one that can be recognized as in all probability that one.
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