[throwup238]

It’s a bad translation using a more modern meaning of “erdapfel” instead of a medieval one. Could easily be a very local colloquialism instead of a widespread name.

To my eye it looks like a melon or gourd plant. It’s definitely not a tuber (the next drawing shows an underground bulb).

[aftoprokrustes]

If I trust Wikipedia, even today the term "Erdapfel" is used to refer to topinambour in some regions: "Mancherorts in Baden wird Topinambur als Erdapfel bezeichnet." https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topinambur#:~:text=Mancherorts....

Topinambour would have been available in the middle ages. Confusion with potato by the modern reader is understandable, as a topinambour does look similar to a potato, and some German dialects (e.g. Swiss dialects) name potatoes "Erdapfel".

[throwup238]

> Topinambour would have been available in the middle ages.

No, Helianthus tuberosus [1] aka "topinambur" is Jerusalem artichoke which would not have been available at the time. It's a New World crop just like the potato.

We're talking about a book written in 1462, before the Columbian exchange. The plant wasn't introduced to Europe until the early 17th century.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helianthus_tuberosus

[fuzztester]

Some deductions:

>>potato

grows in the earth

>erdapfel

I know a few French words, so I know that potato in French is pomme de terre (fruit of the earth)

I am learning German.

I know that apfel means apple in German.

I know that Erdbeere means strawberry in German.

beere sounds like berry.

straw sometimes lies on the earth (after it is cut).

I just Googled for the word earth in German and it shows erde.

so it seems like erdapfel means "earth apple", which sounds like the French "fruit of the earth".

how's that for a bit(te) of logical deduction?

I feel a bit(te) like a human Prolog interpret-a.

now I'll go and finish my Bier(e), which inspired me-a.

;)

[detaro]

But it can't have in 1462, when potatoes (and Jerusalem artichokes) weren't known to Europeans yet.

[throwup238]

Yep, they weren't introduced to Europe until the late 16th century: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00029633

At that time, "erdapfel" meant something else entirely: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erdapfel

The reason I think it's a heirloom melon variety is threefold: a) "earth apple" fits because melons grow on the ground, b) there are green melons with yellow and pink stripes/patches, with the same elongated fruit shape, c) vines and leaf shape.

[fuzztester]

You're right. Only after the Columbian Exchange were those plants known to Europe.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbian_exchange

[draven]

> I know a few French words, so I know that potato in French is pomme de terre (fruit of the earth)

"pomme" means apple, so it's even closer to the german etymology.

[fuzztester]

good to know, thanks.

joke: from now on, whenever anyone asks what type of computer i have, I will say:

pomme! non! merde!

meaning: Apple! no! https://www.dictionary.com/browse/merde

;)

[fuzztester]

I just googled a bit more and saw this:

https://en.m.wikisource.org/wiki/An_Etymological_Dictionary_...