Old English æppel "any kind of fruit; fruit in general"
from PIE root ab(e)l-
As late as the 17th century, in Middle English, apple was a generic term for all fruit other than berries but including nuts.
For instance, Old English fingeræppla "dates" or literally "finger-apples"
Middle English appel of paradis "banana," (c. 1400)
apple noun
- the fleshy, usually rounded red, yellow, or green edible pome fruit of a usually cultivated tree (genus Malus) of the rose family
- In botany, a pome is a type of accessory fruit produced by flowering plants in the subtribe Malinae of the family Rosaceae. Pome fruits consist of a central "core" containing multiple small seeds, which is enveloped by a tough membrane and surrounded by an edible layer of flesh.
- An accessory fruit is a fruit that contains tissue derived from plant parts other than the ovary. In contrast, true fruit forms exclusively from the ovary of the flower.
"As far as the forbidden fruit is concerned, again, the Quran does not mention it explicitly, but according to traditional commentaries it was not an apple, as believed by Christians and Jews, but wheat."
"The Heart of Islam: Enduring Values for Humanity"
by Seyyed Hossein Nasr, 2002
It is believed that wheat was first cultivated in the regions of the Fertile Crescent around 9600 BC. Botanically, the wheat kernel is a caryopsis, a type of fruit.
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