Why do we speak of the "Adam's apple" (and why it should rather be a fig)?

Every day in "Historically yours", Stéphane Bern sets out to discover the expressions we use on a daily basis, without necessarily knowing them well.

Thursday, he explains the origin of the expression "Adam's apple", which designates the bump that is most often seen on the neck of men.

We know that the Adam's apple is found on the anterior side of the neck.

But where does this name come from?

Who says Adam says Old Testament.

According to the Bible, Eve's companion, unlike the latter, would not have managed to swallow the famous forbidden fruit, which got stuck in the throat.

Which would explain this bump, which is more easily observed on the necks of men, which would therefore be "Adam's apple". 

But this piece of apple which remained in Adam's throat raises questions, because the word "apple" is not written anywhere in the Bible.

We are talking about fruit but not apple.

Yet in many paintings it is the apple that is chosen to symbolize temptation.

Crunch the fig?

Now, genesis says in particular "the eyes of Adam and Eve were opened, they knew that they were naked, and having sewn fig leaves, they made sashes".

It is therefore more probably a question of "forbidden fig" than of "forbidden apple".

We should therefore speak of the "fig of Adam".

The origin of the confusion surely comes from the New Testament where the forbidden fruit is called "pomum".

This word means exclusively "fruit", but it resembles the word apple.

A resemblance that has prompted artists to figure Eve holding an apple in her hand.

>> Find the shows of Matthieu Noël and Stéphane Bern in replay and podcast here

Another anomaly in this story, the expression gives a biblical explanation for the fact that men have Adam's apples but women do not.

However, the Adam's apple corresponds to the thyroid cartilage, an organ that is found in all humans.

Women have an Adam's apple, it is just more often less or not visible.