apple

apple [OE]. The pome fruit and tree (Pyrusmalus) bearing this fruit is celebrated in numerous functions in Celtic mythology, legend, and folklore; it is an emblem of fruit-fulness and sometimes a means to immortality. Wands of druids were made from wood either of the yew or of the apple. A name for the Avalon of Arthurian tradition in certain medieval narratives, attributing Welsh origin, is Insula Pomorum, ‘The Isle of Apples’. One gloss of the name for the magical Irish island Emain Ablach is ‘Emain of the Apples’. In the Ulster Cycle the soul of Cú Roí was confined in an apple that lay in the stomach of a salmon which appeared once every seven years. Cúchulainn once gained his escape by following the path of a rolled apple. An apple-tree grew from the grave of the tragic lover Ailinn. In the Irish tale Echtrae Conli [The Adventure of Connla], Connla the son of Conn is fed an apple by a fairy lover [Ir. leannán sídhe/sí], which sustains him with food and drink for a month without diminishing; but it also makes him long for the woman and the beautiful country of women to which his lover is enticing him. In the Irish story from the Mythological Cycle, Oidheadh Chlainne Tuireann, the first task given the Children of Tuireann is to retrieve the Apples of the Hesperides (or Hisbernia). Afallennau [W apple trees] is a 12th-century Welsh narrative poem dealing with Myrddin. The Breton pseudosaint Konorin was reborn by means of an apple. OIr. uball, ubull; ModIr. ubhal, úll; ScG ubhall; Manx ooyl; W afal; Corn. aval; Bret. aval. See also ALLANTIDE; FAIRY TREE.