The phrase "apple of my eye" refers in English to something or someone that one cherishes above all others. Originally, the phrase was simply an idiom referring to the

pupil The pupil is a black hole located in the center of the Iris (anatomy), iris of the Human eye, eye that allows light to strike the retina.Cassin, B. and Solomon, S. (1990) ''Dictionary of Eye Terminology''. Gainesville, Florida: Triad Publishing ...

of the eye.apple, n.
, ''

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a co ...

Online'', 3rd edn (Oxford University Press, 2008), § 6 B.

Origin

Originally this term simply referred to the "aperture at the centre of the human eye", i.e. the

, or occasionally to the whole eyeball. The earliest appearance of the term is found in the ninth-century

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...

translation of the Latin '' Cura pastoralis'' attributed to Alfred the Great. The sense "pupil" appears to be the meaning Shakespeare used in his 1590s play '' A Midsummer Night's Dream''. In the play, the fairy character

Robin Goodfellow In English folklore, Puck (), sometimes known as Robin Goodfellow, is a domestic and nature sprite, demon, or fairy. Origins and comparative folklore Etymology The etymology of ''puck'' is uncertain. The modern English word is attested alrea ...

has acquired a flower that was once hit by Cupid's arrow, imbuing it with magical love-arousing properties, and drops juice of this flower into a young sleeping man's eyes, saying "Flower of this purple dye, / Hit with Cupid's archery, / Sink in apple of his eye".

Use in the Bible

The phrase "apple of my eye" (or similar) occurs in several places in the King James Bible translation from 1611, and some subsequent translations: * : "He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as ''the apple of his eye''". * : "Keep me as ''the apple of the eye'', hide me under the shadow of thy wings". * : "Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as ''the apple of thine eye''". * : "Their heart cried unto the Lord, O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night: give thyself no rest; let not ''the apple of thine eye'' cease". * : "For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth ''the apple of his eye''". However, the "apple" usage comes from English idiom, not Biblical Hebrew. The original Hebrew for this idiom, in all but Zechariah 2:8, was '''iyshown 'ayin'' (אישון עין). The expression refers to the pupil, and probably simply means "dark part of the eye" (other biblical passages use '''iyshown'' with the meaning ''dark'' or ''obscure'', and having nothing whatsoever to do with the eye). There is, however, a popular notion that '''iyshown'' is a diminutive of "man" ('''iysh''), so that the expression would literally mean "Little Man of the Eye"; if so, this would be consistent with a range of languages, in which the etymology of the word for pupil has this meaning. In Zechariah 2:8, the Hebrew phrase used is ''bava 'ayin'' (בבה עין). The meaning of ''bava'' is disputed. It may mean "apple"; if so, the phrase used in Zechariah 2:8 literally refers to the "apple of the eye". However, Hebrew scholars generally regard this phrase as simply referring to the "eyeball".E.g. ''The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament''.

References

Citations

Sources

* * * * *
Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, Vol. 73, 1942
{{DEFAULTSORT:Apple Of My Eye English phrases Biblical phrases Metaphors referring to food and drink Human eyes in culture Human pupil