Why do people say apple of my eye?

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 of the eye.[1]

Origin[edit]

Originally this term simply referred to the "aperture at the centre of the human eye", i.e. the pupil, or occasionally to the whole eyeball.[2] The earliest appearance of the term is found in the ninth-century Old English translation of the Latin Cura pastoralis attributed to Alfred the Great.[1][3]

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 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[edit]

The phrase "apple of my eye" (or similar) occurs in several places in the King James Bible translation from 1611, and some subsequent translations:

• Deuteronomy 32:10: "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".
• Psalm 17:8: "Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings".
• Proverbs 7:2: "Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye".
• Lamentations 2:18: "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".
• Zechariah 2:8: "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.[4]

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".[5]

References[edit]

Citations[edit]

1. ^ a b apple, n.", Oxford English Dictionary Online, 3rd edn (Oxford University Press, 2008), § 6 B.
2. ^ "Apple of one's eye". The Word Detective. Retrieved August 15, 2015.
3. ^ "Æppel", in Dictionary of Old English: A to I online, ed. Angus Cameron, Ashley Crandell Amos, Antonette diPaolo Healey et al. (Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project, 2018), §3b.
4. ^ Cf. Gary B. Palmer, Toward a Theory of Cultural Linguistics (University of Texas Press, 1996), p. 102.
5. ^ E.g. The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament.

Sources[edit]

• "ap'-'-l". Bible Study Tools. Retrieved October 19, 2016.
• "The meanings and origins of sayings and phrases". Phrases.org.uk. Retrieved October 17, 2012.
• "Apple of My Eye". TheIdioms.com.
• "Apple of one's eye". WorldWideWords.org. Retrieved October 17, 2012.
• Gregory I. Pope (January 1, 1999). King Alfred's West-Saxon Version of Gregory's Pastoral Care. Elibron.com. p. 68. ISBN 978-1-4021-9636-2. Retrieved October 17, 2012.
• Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, Vol. 73, 1942

‘The apple of my eye’ is an idiom that Shakespeare used in his A Midsummer Night’s Dream play. However, Shakespeare was using this phrase literally (simply referring to the pupil of an eye), rather than the figurative way it is used today.

Meaning of ‘the apple of my eye’:

It is in the Bible that phrase ‘apple of my eye’ is first used figuratively. The apple of the eye was a favourite idiom of the Old Testament writers to indicate something, and particularly a person, that one values above all other things.

The phrase comes from a Hebrew expression that literally means ‘little man of the eye.’ It refers to the tiny reflection of yourself that you can see in other people’s pupils. To be the apple of someone’s eye clearly means that you are being focused on and watched closely by that person. Your very image is central in the eyes of that person!

This biblical meaning of ‘the apple of your eye’ comes to us quite independently of Shakespeare’s use of the term. They are two completely different usages of the phrase. The phrase can be found in several Old Testament books of the King James Bible:

Biblical usage of ‘the apple of my eye’:

‘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’

Deuteronomy 32:10

‘Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings.’

Psalm 17:8. In this one,  when the psalmist (David)  asks God to keep him as the apple of His eye he is asking God to keep an eye on him and not lose sight of him. David was asking God to regard him as one would a cherished child, the object of great affection.

‘Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye.’

Proverbs 7:2

‘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.’

Lamentations 2:18.

‘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.’

Zachariah 2:8

The idiom is very much alive in our everyday speech today and widely used among English speaking countries and instantly understood by everyone.

The apple of my eye

Shakespeare’s use of ‘the apple of his eye’

Shakespeare uses the term ‘the apple of his eye’ but not in the idiomatic sense that the Old Testament writers did.

Shakespeare used the phrase only once – in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The fairy king, Oberon, instructs his servant, the fairy, Puck, to drop a love potion in Demetrius’ eye:

‘Flower of this purple dye, Hit with Cupid’s archery,  Sink in apple of his eye’.

Shakespeare is using ‘apple of his eye’ quite literally here. The original meaning of the eye’s apple was purely anatomical. It derives from the fact that there was no scientific word to describe the pupil of the eye. In Shakespeare’s time they referred to the pupil as the ‘apple of the eye,’ as it was round and solid and resembled an apple. The term ‘pupil’ as we use it today, came much later.

Shakespeare uses it in that earlier sense – as the pupil of the eye. Oberon tells Puck to squeeze the potion in the pupil of the eye. So the term ‘apple of the eye’ as Shakespeare uses it does not have an idiomatic or figurative meaning – it is quite literal.