Hebrew word · H8598

תַּפּוּחַ

katapuchim

apple

A fruit tree and its fruit, named for its fragrance: the root nph means 'to breathe, blow', so the name means something like 'the fragrant one'. It appears only six times: Song 2:3, 2:5, 7:8 (Heb. It also appears in place names: Tappuah and Beth-tappuah (Joshua 12:17; 15:34, 53; 16:8).

Appears 6 times in 6 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) apple, apple tree

1a) apple tree

1b) apples

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Song of Songs 2:3

Range of meaning

A fruit tree and its fruit, named for its fragrance: the root nph means 'to breathe, blow', so the name means something like 'the fragrant one'. It appears only six times: Song 2:3, 2:5, 7:8 (Heb. 7:9, 'the scent of your breath like apples'), 8:5; Proverbs 25:11 ('apples of gold in settings of silver'); Joel 1:12 (listed with vine, fig, pomegranate and palm). It also appears in place names: Tappuah and Beth-tappuah (Joshua 12:17; 15:34, 53; 16:8).

Against the English

KJV, BSB, WEB, NIV, ESV and NASB all say 'apple tree'. YLT says 'citron'. Older reference works also proposed apricot or quince.

How it drifted

No real drift. The doubt is about the botany: whether the ancient tree was the large, sweet, cultivated apple a modern reader pictures, or a smaller and more fragrant relative.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Arabic cognate tuffāḥ means apple. The Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation) has mēlon and the Vulgate (Jerome's Latin) has malum, both 'apple' in the broad sense of a tree fruit. Apples are attested in New Kingdom Egypt (around 13th century BC) and in Mesopotamia (Akkadian ḫašḫūru). The botanist Michael Zohary argued for the apple; Tristram's apricot and the citron (etrog) are now generally thought to have reached the Levant too late. The Aramaic Targum of the Song paraphrases this verse with the citron, which probably lies behind YLT. In Mesopotamian and Greek love poetry the apple is a love-fruit (compare Sappho's apple on the highest branch), and in the Song it is tied to love-sickness (2:5) and conception (8:5).

From the study of Joel 1:12

Range of meaning

A fruit tree and its fruit, sweet and fragrant, valued for shade. It appears only a few times in the Bible, and the root is usually linked to breathing or scent.

Against the English

Every major English version says 'apple.' That may be correct, but the English sounds more certain than the evidence, and it brings to mind the large modern orchard apple.

How it drifted

'Apple' follows ancient and Arabic usage (Arabic tuffāḥ means apple), and it became fixed through traditional translation. Ancient cultivated fruit would also have differed from modern varieties.

Used elsewhere in the period

Song of Songs 2:3, 2:5, 7:8 and 8:5, and Proverbs 25:11. It also appears in place names such as Tappuah (Joshua 12:17; 15:34). The Septuagint uses mēlon, a Greek word that can cover apple-like fruit in general. Scholars have proposed apple, apricot, and quince.

From the study of Song of Songs 8:5

Range of meaning

A fruit tree and its fruit, known for its scent. The name probably comes from nāpaḥ, 'to breathe or blow', which fits a fragrant fruit (compare 7:8, 'the scent of your breath like tappûḥîm'). The species is debated: apple, apricot, quince and citron have all been suggested. Place names such as Beth-tappuah (Josh 15:53) show the tree was known in Canaan.

Against the English

Nearly all English versions say 'apple tree'. YLT says 'citron-tree'. 'Apple' is a reasonable traditional choice, but no one should build on the modern domestic apple (and certainly not on the later idea that the forbidden fruit was an apple, which is not in Genesis).

Used elsewhere in the period

In the Song: 2:3, 2:5, 7:8, 8:5. Proverbs 25:11 has 'golden tappûḥîm in settings of silver'. In ancient Near Eastern love poetry, fruit trees and orchards are standard places for lovemaking. In the Egyptian love songs (for example the Turin 'tree' songs), garden trees even speak about the lovers who meet beneath them. Sumerian love songs also use fruit trees and gardens as images of sexual love.

Where it appears

Proverbs · 1

  1. Proverbs 25:11 תַּפּוּחֵ֣י apples of

    A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.

    Here: "Apples of": the plural, bound to the next word ("apples of gold"). It opens the verse with a picture rather than a statement. The fruit is prized and fragrant, and here it is made of gold or coloured like gold.

Song of Songs · 4

  1. Song of Songs 2:3 כְּתַפּ֙וּחַ֙ like an apple tree

    Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest is my beloved among the young men. I delight to sit in his shade, and his fruit is sweet to my taste.

    Here: 'Like an apple tree': a fragrant fruit tree linked with love across the ancient Near East. Which tree exactly is debated, but apple is the best-supported identification. The prefix ke- ('like') opens a comparison that matches v2 word for word.

  2. Song of Songs 2:5 בַּתַּפּוּחִ֑ים with <the> apples

    Sustain me with raisins; refresh me with apples, for I am faint with love.

  3. Song of Songs 7:8 כַּתַּפּוּחִֽים׃ like <the> apples

    I said, “I will climb the palm tree; I will take hold of its fruit.” May your breasts be like clusters of the vine, the fragrance of your breath like apples,

  4. Song of Songs 8:5 הַתַּפּ֙וּחַ֙ the apple tree

    Who is this coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? I roused you under the apple tree; there your mother conceived you; there she travailed and brought you forth.

    Here: A fragrant fruit tree whose exact species is uncertain (apple, apricot, quince and citron have all been proposed). In this poem it is already his tree: 'like an apple tree among the trees of the forest is my beloved' (2:3).

Joel · 1

  1. Joel 1:12 וְתַפּ֗וּחַ and [the] apple tree

    The grapevine is dried up, and the fig tree is withered; the pomegranate, palm, and apple—all the trees of the orchard—are withered. Surely the joy of mankind has dried up.

    Here: A sweet, fragrant fruit tree loved for shade and taste (Song of Songs 2:3). The exact species is uncertain, though 'apple' remains a reasonable traditional rendering.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.