In ancient times on the mainland, the common fruit apple was not called "apple", but a very aesthetic name.
Later, in order to simplify the name and remember it, it was changed to apple, but Japan, which has studied our culture for many years, has used the ancient name of apple to this day.
In modern times, some people who admire foreign people like to admire Japanese culture, and feel that some things in Japan are more elegant and moving, but they don't know that these so-called elegant and moving people come from the ancient mainland of China. So do you know what the ancient name of Apple is?
Overview of Apple
Apples are native to Europe and central Asia and are grown widely, with apples grown in most temperate regions.
The apple production of many provinces in the northern part of the mainland is very large, and the apple production of Shaanxi alone accounts for a quarter of the country and one-seventh of the world, with a planting area of more than 11 million mu.
In addition, the four provinces of Yun, Gui, Gansu and Tibet in the southwest and northwest are also apple production areas. Apples are a very good crop, not very picky, as long as the north and south latitudes are between 30 and 50 degrees, apples can grow healthily.
Apple cultivation has a long history, and in the beginning, apples grown in the mainland were in Xinjiang and Tibet. It is sparsely populated, with cold nights and warm days and long hours of sunshine, making it ideal for growing apples. However, due to the small number of people, the first birds to taste the apple trees after they bear fruit.
With this picture, the ancients gave the apple a name that fits the mood - Lin Yong.
The name reflects both the animals in the woods eating the fruit and the delicacy of the apple. According to tradition, the fruit pecked by the bird must be sweet.
So such a nice name, why did you change it later? And when was it changed to Apple?
Apple's trip around the world
In ancient times, the taste of apples was not as good as in modern times, some sour, and not large.
After cultivating apples on the mainland for a period of time, apples spread along the Silk Road, and after Westerners got apples, they made some improvements in cultivation technology, so that the appearance and taste of apples were improved. The improved apple was coated with gold on the outside and passed back to China.
There are Buddhist scriptures that recorded that there was a fruit called Pinpo fruit during the Tang Dynasty. In Book 7 of the Heavenly King of Oto, it says:
"Pinpo Guo, this translation cloud acacia also."
In the novel "Journey to the West", Wu Chengen also wrote that after the Tang monk Situ returned from taking the scriptures, Emperor Taizong of Tang set up a banquet to entertain their masters and apprentices, and one of the fruits was the Pinpo fruit.
The shape of the fruit is completely different from that of an apple, it is like a pod, and the fruit is in the shell. In ancient Chinese on the mainland, pinpo translates to acacia.
The color of the fruit is rosy on the outside, and the fruit inside is moist, so the New Translation of the Dafang Guangfo Huayan Sutra says:
"The lips are clean, like a frequent po fruit."
So the fruit and apple are completely different in appearance, how are the two related? The reason for this can also be found in the Buddhist scriptures.
There was also a monk in the Tang Dynasty, the French number Huilin, who explained in his "All Scriptures and Meanings" that "the lips are clean, like the fruit of the pinpo":
"Dan, Akaya. Clean, clean also. Those who have frequent fruits, their fruits are similar to this square Ringo, and they are extremely red. ”
With the widespread spread of Buddhism, the pinba fruit mentioned in these scriptures has gradually been said to be "frequent fruit" by oral tradition.
During the Yuan Dynasty, due to the warlike of Genghis Khan's family, the territory continued to expand, and fruits from Central Asia were introduced to the mainland, and the Mongols used the name of the Tang Dynasty Buddhist scriptures to call this imported product "Pingbo", or "Pingpo".
Apple's final name
Pingbo Guo has been mentioned in literary works such as "Yuan Palace Words" and "Afterword of Poetry". In the late Ming Dynasty, the generation of frequent fruits and apples in the capital began to increase, and slowly, more and more people began to call them "apples".
During the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, when the "Qunfang Spectrum" was revised, it officially wrote this fruit as "apple".
At this time, the apple was a famous fruit in the north, and Kangxidi made a special trip to study its classification. He was very fond of eating apples, and often used apples when rewarding people or ministers.
Over the years, the word "apple" was finally settled as the official name of the fruit. Now, Apple has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and everyone calls it very smooth.
In fact, the Japanese retain the name of Lin Yong, not because they think the name is nice and poetic, but because they like to run to China the most during the Tang Dynasty, staying for a long time to learn various Tang Dynasty cultures.
After learning Lin Yong's name and going back, he kept calling it down without going through many name reforms on our side.
And the apple passed out of the country, wandered outside for a circle of improvement and returned to China, grafted with traditional Ringo, and the fruit grown was of better quality, large and sweet.
In the late Qing Dynasty, a kind of apple from the West was introduced into China, the variety was more excellent, and the mainland people also liked this taste of apples, and the apples with a better taste before gradually withdrew from the historical stage, and apples continued to be used in new varieties at one time.
The former "Pinpo Guo", "Pingbo", "Lin Yong", etc., are also gone.
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