The Apple of My Eye Could Have been a Pineapple

As the Lunar New Year alights upon us, we find ourselves reflecting on origins. 2025 is the Lunar Year of the Wood Snake; and oh my, how there is such a storied connection between a particular snake and the alleged apple! Roots are a part of our DNA here at Roots to Fruits Nursery, so we delved into the rooted ancestry of the word apple, which took us on a lovely journey. We delight at the mere mention of the word apple, almost as much as we love growing, planting, sharing, eating, and creating with them. Upon hearing the word apple, one cannot help but immediately conjure up images and tastes of this historic fruit and the magical orchards and forests they originally grew in.

So, just where does this word originate from? Malus domestica is the scientific name for the cultivated apple as we now know it. Malus (the genus of the scientific classification) comes from the Greek word meaning melon, and domestica (the species) is Latin meaning home. Wikipedia notes that pumila (Latin for very small) is the older name for the genus pre-21st century. Apples (along with pears and quince) were first classified by Linnaeus in 1753, yet the domestication of apples dates back much farther, some 10,000 years. Did you know that the apple is a part of the rose (Rosaceae) family? That will be a fascinating subject for another post! 

Now, back to the etymology of the word apple. Originally referring to any and every kind of fruit, the Old English word aeppel evolved from the Proto-Germanic word apalaz. From fabled forbidden fruit, to now one of favor, the apple has journeyed alongside humankind across the planet for centuries.  

The next time you are in the Big Apple, tell your beloved they are the Apple (instead of a pineapple) of Your Eye, or give your favorite teacher one, pause with a little smile for the origins of Malus domestica.  

To learn more about planning and planting your own origin orchard (because we just can't help ourselves...from the Latin word, hortus, meaning garden), reach out to us at Roots to Fruits Nursery. 

Stay tuned for our next post when we will share tips and tricks about the best time of the year to plant fruit trees (spoiler alert...it is very soon!)