Meanwhile, medieval Arab medical writers were dealing with throat anatomy by way of analogy with the same fruit, and they settled on 'pomegranate' as a name for the laryngeal protuberance. The implication was likely that the vaunted fruit belonged in the category of those 'fruits of Paradise' supposed to have been enjoyed in the long-lost Eden. for various fruits, among them the cherished pomegranate.

This rather (from a modern perspective, anyway) willy-nilly application of the term was in keeping with a habit that dates at least to medieval times, when European writers used Latin variations on the same theme- pomum Adam, pomum Adami, Adami pomum, etc. But decades before (and after) Adam's apple came to refer to that anatomical item, it was used as a term for several edible items of the fruit variety, among them plantains, pomelos, and citrons.

It goes by analogous names in other European languages, among them French ( pomme d'Adam the French also use morceau d'Adam-'Adam's morsel') Italian ( pomo d'Adamo) and German ( Adamsapfel). The term Adam's apple (or technically 'laryngeal protuberance,' formed by the largest cartilage of the larynx) has been used in English since at least 1625.

Sins of new eden