Adam's Apple

In 1662–the year the Anglican Book of Common Prayer reached its final form–a Danish physician, mathematician and theologian called Thomas Bartholin noted the name, pomum Adami, used at the time for the lump men have in their throat. He explained the name thusly: “the common people believe that by the judgement of God a part of that fatal Apple, was left lodged in Adam’s Throat, and was so communicated to man’s posterity.”

Whether the “common people” actually believed that is unclear. If they did, they weren’t getting it from the Bible. What Adam and Eve ate was “the fruit” of “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil”. They lived in the Garden of Eden–the original paradise in which they were placed–where they could eat the fruit of every other tree, including the much more promising Tree of Life. Yet, when they saw “the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom” (Gen 3:4), they ate of it.

As a result, they were cast out of Eden, and God “placed on the east side[e] of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life” (Gen 3:34). Ever since, life has been lived “East of Eden” under a curse: Man’s days would now be numbered:

By the sweat of your brow
  you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
  since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
  and to dust you will return. (Gen 3:19)

But instead of lodging the fruit in Adam’s throat, God makes clothes for Adam and Eve to wear. Even in the moment of judgement there is compassion. The curse itself will ultimately be lifted; when Jesus is lifted on the cross:

For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. (1 Corinthians 15:22-23)

The fruit, meanwhile, is never described as an apple; “Forbidden Fruit” better sums up both the fruit itself and our innate attraction to things that are off-limits. That lump, meanwhile, is now called the prominentia laryngea or, in the American South, the “goozle”, which is surely a much better name.