Forbidden fruit
Fruit God forbade Adam and Eve to eat.
Last updated
Kieran Murray · Public domain
The forbidden fruit is the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden story.[1] In later Western art, from serious religious paintings to countless cartoons, the forbidden fruit is nearly always shown as an apple.[1]
Quick Facts
- Origin
- Abrahamic religions
- First mentioned
- Book of Genesis, Quran
- Symbolism
- Original sin, forbidden knowledge
- Common depiction
- Apple (Western Europe)
- Alternative identifications
- Grape
- fig
- pomegranate
- wheat
- mushroom
- Key text
- Genesis 2–3, Quran Surah Al-A'raf 7:19–22
Facts from the source article.
Key facts and history
The Quran states that Adam and his wife were forbidden to eat from one tree in Paradise, or they would be wrongdoers.[2] Satan whispered to them and deceived them into eating from the tree.[3] Early rabbis suggested the fruit could be a fig, grape, citron, wheat, or carob.[1] Many modern scholars think the author had the pomegranate in mind.[1]
The apple became the favored representation in Christian art in France and Germany beginning around the 12th century.[1] The laryngeal prominence in the human throat is called an Adam's apple from a notion that the forbidden fruit stuck in Adam's throat.[4]
What the cited sources add
A fresco in the 13th-century Plaincourault Abbey in France depicts the Tree of Knowledge as a giant Amanita muscaria mushroom.[5] Yadin-Israel states that Latin writers commonly used the word pōmum, meaning "fruit," to describe the forbidden fruit.[6] The Old French term pom originally signified "fruit" generally, but its meaning later narrowed to specifically denote "apple."[6]
References
- "Was the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden an apple?", The Straight Dope, 2006-11-24. facts only, no text reused. straightdope.com
- Wikipedia, "Forbidden fruit" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ˹Allah said,˺ "O Adam! Live with your wife in Paradise and eat from wherever you please, but do not approach this tree, or else you will be wrongdoers." (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Forbidden fruit" (CC BY-SA 4.0) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Forbidden fruit" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: E. Cobham Brewer (1810–1897). Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898. "Adam's Apple" (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Forbidden fruit" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Emerson, "Mycological relevance in the nineteen seventies", Transactions of the British Mycological Society, 1 June 1973, p. 363–IN2; Rea, "Notes on fungus illustrations", Transactions of the British Mycological Society, January 1914, p. 211–228; William Dudley Gray, "The Use of Fungi as Food and in Food Processing, Part 2", CRC Press, 1973, p. 182 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Forbidden fruit" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Yadin-Israel 2023, p. 17 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Forbidden fruit (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
More in Jewish mythology
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Forbidden fruit (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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