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StillnessProverb

An apple a day keeps the doctor away.

Traditional proverb

HealthLanguageHistory

The story behind the card

The saying grew from a Welsh rhyme recorded in Pembrokeshire in 1866: eat an apple on going to bed, and you'll keep the doctor from earning his bread. The short modern form was in print by 1913, when the folklorist Elizabeth Mary Wright noted it in Rustic Speech and Folk-lore, alongside versions featuring onions. Apples do provide fibre and vitamin C, but a 2015 US study found that people who ate an apple a day visited the doctor about as often as everyone else.

Türkçe oku
Günde bir elma, doktoru uzak tutar.
Geleneksel atasözü

Söz, 1866'da Galler'in Pembrokeshire bölgesinde kaydedilen bir tekerlemeden gelir: yatarken bir elma yersen, doktor ekmeğini senden kazanamaz. Bugünkü kısa biçimi en geç 1913'te basılı olarak görülür; halkbilimci Elizabeth Mary Wright onu Rustic Speech and Folk-lore adlı kitabında, elmanın yerine soğan geçen çeşitleriyle birlikte kaydetti. Türkçede de bu biçimiyle çok yaygındır. Elmada lif ve C vitamini vardır, ama 2015'te ABD'de yapılan bir çalışma, her gün elma yiyenlerin doktora ötekilerden pek de seyrek gitmediğini buldu.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: An apple a day keeps the doctor away
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