Adam ’s applephoto via Shutterstock
Touch your finger to the front of your throat and start humming . sense around until you’re able to palpate quivering directly under your fingers . That ’s your larynx , or voice box . It domiciliate your vocal cords and is involve in respiration and vocalization .
fence the larynx is the laryngeal prominence , better know as the Adam ’s apple . The “ apple ” is simply protective cartilage . As your vocalisation changes and your larynx grow during puberty , the gristle enlarges and moves with it . Depending on the size of your voice box , the orchard apple tree can seem barely there , or be very spectacular .
Despite common misconception , woman do have Adam ’s apples , and both boys and girls have likewise sized apple when they ’re unseasoned . come up puberty , though , male child ’ vocal cords tend to become longer and thicker , and the voice box and laryngeal excrescence both need to grow differently to accommodate them , so male ’ apple will generally be more noticeable .
Adam Who?
There are two popular explanations for the laryngeal prominence ’s nickname . The first is that it have-to doe with to the Biblical Adam . According to the Word of Genesis , the first man eat the yield of the Tree of Knowledge , which is popularly interpret as an orchard apple tree , and the laryngeal prominence got its name because it looks like a piece of fruit stuck in one ’s throat .
The alternate explanation is that it ’s a mistranslation of the Hebrewtappuah ha’adam . In modern and Biblical Hebrew , tappuahhas had a few meanings , including “ Malus pumila , ” “ Citrus medica , ” “ swelling ” and several place and personal name . Ha’adam , which can mean “ mankind ” or consult to unidentified humanity , may have been misinterpreted as the name Adam to get “ Adam ’s apple ” instead of “ military man ’s Malus pumila ” or “ gentleman’s gentleman ’s swelling . ”
