Earthapple

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A starchy underground tuber of a North American plant, resembling a small potato and eaten as a vegetable
2. The edible root of a perennial herb belonging to the sunflower family, featuring a lumpy tan exterior and crisp white flesh
3. A tuberous vegetable produced by a wildflower native to North America, used in cooking and characterized by its knobby shape and nutty flavor

Etymology: The most surprising thing about "earthapple" is that it once named the cucumber. In Old English, "eorþæppel" literally meant "earth or ground-apple" and was applied to cucumbers, melons, gourds and squashes, all fruits that grow on or close to the ground. The name was a descriptive compound, built from "earth" and "apple" in the same way that the older word for a fruit could be applied to anything round and edible that grew low. Over the centuries the word narrowed and drifted. In Middle English it was used for the tuberous root of the sowbread plant and for the tomato-like fruit of the mandrake, both of which grow near the soil. Its best-known sense, the potato, arrived later and came by way of translation: it is a calque of Dutch "aardappel", which copied the same earth-and-apple pattern. German "Erdapfel" follows the same logic, while French "pomme de terre" reached the same idea by a different route, using "ground" rather than "earth."

Synonyms: Jerusalem artichoke, tuber