First things first: how did the eggplant get its name? Well, leaving aside the fact that most of the world calls it something else, “eggplant” was first applied to the original white cultivars that actually do resemble hen’s eggs.
Outside of Australia and North America, its names are derived from the Arabic badinjan — aubergine in Europe, brinjal in India — while the Greeks, lacking a B sound, passed it to the Italians as melanzana, which was then turned into a pun: mela insana, or “mad apple”.
Oddly enough, Italians and some other cultures actually believed the fruit could cause insanity. Elsewhere it was viewed with suspicion as a poisonous member of the nightshade family (see box, above).
The precise origins of the mad apple are a mystery but there may be a…
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Good Organic Gardening (Digital) - 1 Issue, Issue #14.3