earthapple

Meanings

1. A Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus).
2. A potato.
3. The mandrake (Mandragora officinarum), or its fruit.
4. The name of various tuberous plants, especially sowbread (genus Cyclamen).

Etymology

From earlier erth-apple (“tuberous root of the sowbread", also "tomato-like fruit of the mandrake”), from Middle English *erth-appel, from Old English eorþæppel (“cucumber”, literally “earth or ground-apple”), from Proto-West Germanic *erþapplu (the name of various types of fruits which grow on or below the ground; gourd, melon, squash), equivalent to earth + apple. The modern sense of "potato" is a calque of Dutch aardappel (“potato”). Compare also German Erdapfel, French pomme de terre.