apple in Eden

[Amy Z]

Jen wrote:
 
> After all, the apple does have to get into the popular discourse 
about
> the story somewhere, since it *doesn't* come from the Hebrew (or
> Vulgate, for that matter, I don't think, though I haven't checked) 
text
> of Genesis.

Thanks for the Latin help, Jen.

Complete and utterly unsupported speculation:  the apple idea might 
have been popularized by a painting.  Some Flemish (say) painter 
wanted to portray the fruit; you can't just paint fruit, you have to 
choose a fruit to paint; and he/she chose an apple.  That one took off 
and was repeated in so many works of art that it became standard.

However, it seems just as likely that it started with a 
misunderstanding of the Latin, the same way the idea that Jews have 
horns started with a misunderstanding of the Hebrew in a description 
of Moses (and was perpetuated by Michelangelo, among others).

Now wildly curious about how this apple business got started,
Amy