עַגְבָנִיָּה (agvaniya) — tomato
Etymology
The tomato arrived in Europe from the Americas in the 16th century. The Italian botanist Pietro Andrea Mattioli first documented it in 1544 as "mala aurea" (golden apple), and in his 1554 revision named it pomi d'oro (golden apple), which became pomodoro. Jewish and Arab communities learned of the plant under this Italian name: Yiddish adopted פאָמידאָר, while Arabic — which lacks a hard "p" — transformed it through sound shifts to בִּנַדַוְרַה. A parallel Arabic name, טַמַאטִם, came from Spanish tomate, itself from the Nahuatl word tomatl (meaning "swollen"). English tomato (first attested 1604) and French tomate (1598) also come from the Spanish.
In the 17th century, the French began calling the tomato pomme d'amour ("love apple"), misreading the Italian pomodoro as if it derived from amore (love) rather than oro (gold). German followed suit with Liebesapfel. This fanciful association with love and desire colored how the vegetable was understood in European and Near Eastern culture. When Dr. Leo Anderlind wrote his 1886 German manual on Syrian and Palestinian agriculture, he titled section 27 "der Liebes- oder Paradisapfel" (the love or paradise apple).
When Yechiel Michel Pines translated the book into Hebrew the same year, he needed a Hebrew name for the tomato. He coined עַגְבָנִיָּה from the root ע.ג.ב, which in biblical and Rabbinic Hebrew means "to lust after" or "to desire sexually" — a deliberate translation of the "love apple" motif. The word was immediately controversial. Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, Pines's associate, called it coarse and inappropriate for a vegetable. He proposed instead בַּדּוּרָה, modeled on the Arabic בִּנַדַוְרַה, which he saw as more respectable. The competition between the two words played out in Zionist settlement culture, and עַגְבָנִיָּה won decisively. A popular song of the era — "עַגְבָנִיָּה, עַגְבָנִיָּה! אַרְצֵנוּ עֲנִיָּה" (words and melody: Yehuda Karni) — likely helped cement the word in popular usage.
Key Quotes
"עַגְבָנִיָּה, עַגְבָנִיָּה! אַרְצֵנוּ עֲנִיָּה. זַמְּרִי נִשְׁמַת כָּל חַי שִׁירַת עַגְבָנִיָּה!" — Yehuda Karni, popular Zionist song
Timeline
- 1492: Columbus reaches the Americas; tomato unknown in the Old World
- 1544: Mattioli first documents tomato in Europe as "mala aurea"
- 1554: Mattioli names it pomi d'oro (pomodoro)
- 17th century: French misread pomodoro as "love apple" (pomme d'amour); German adopts Liebesapfel
- 1604: English tomato first attested; French tomate 1598
- 1886: Leo Anderlind titles section "Liebes- oder Paradisapfel" in his Palestine agriculture manual
- 1886: Yechiel Michel Pines coins עַגְבָנִיָּה in Hebrew translation; Ben-Yehuda coins competing בַּדּוּרָה
- Late 19th–early 20th century: עַגְבָנִיָּה defeats בַּדּוּרָה in popular usage
Related Words
- בַּדּוּרָה — Ben-Yehuda's competing coinage for tomato (rare, archaic)
- בִּנַדַוְרַה — Arabic for tomato (from Italian pomodoro via sound shifts)
- טַמַאטִם — Arabic for tomato (from Spanish tomate, from Nahuatl tomatl)
- ע.ג.ב — root meaning "to lust after" (source of עַגְבָנִיָּה)