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Biblical Text Doesn’t Specify Fruit
- The Bible never names the species of the forbidden fruit; early translations just say "fruit."
- Early commentators suggested figs, grapes, pomegranates and more, but not apples.
Multiple Medieval Explanations Coexisted
- Medieval interpreters proposed fruit species with cultural logic, like figs (fig leaves) or grapes (wine/sin).
- Those debates coexisted peacefully until the apple later supplanted them all.
The Malum Pun Lacks Medieval Evidence
- A popular scholarly explanation links apple to Latin malum (evil) as a pun between malum "evil" and malum "apple."
- That elegant pun lacks medieval textual evidence among Latin commentators.