The word "apple" in modern Chinese comes from Sanskrit, which is a kind of fruit mentioned in ancient Indian Buddhist scriptures, first called "pinpo", and later borrowed by Chinese, and has "pingbo", "apple (apple) po" and other writings. In the agricultural book "Qunfang Spectrum and Fruit Spectrum" during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, there is an entry for "apple", saying: "Apple, out of the northern land, Yan Zhao is especially good." Followed by the Linqi body. The body of the tree is straight, the leaves are green, like a forest and large, and the fruit is like a pear and smooth. Raw green, cooked is half red and half white, or all red, smooth and cute play, smell a few steps. Flavor of sweet pine, the uncooked eat like cotton wool, overripe and sandy to eat, only eight or nine cooked is the best." Many experts in the history of Chinese agriculture and fruit trees believe that this is the earliest use of the word "apple" in Chinese.
Chinese native apple plants were also known as "citrus" or "Ringo" in ancient times. Li Shizhen said: "Citrus and Lin Yong, one type and two kinds, the trees are really like Lin Yong and big. There are white, red, and cyan three colors, the white one is plain, the red one is danqi, and the green one is green mandarin" and "Linqiao, that is, the small and round of the citrus, its types include golden Ringo, red Linqiao, water Linqiao, honey Linqiao, and black Linqiao, all of which are named for their color and taste. ”。 And in the "Food Materia Medica", it is also said that "there are three kinds of Lin Yong, the big elder is Lin, the round one is Lin, and the small one is astringent." "Influenced by Chinese culture, the Japanese word for "ringo" is an apple. In Taiwan, some Taiwanese speakers also use the Japanese word "rin-go".
