ANSWERS: 1
  • "The phrase is exceedingly old and first appears in Old English in a work attributed to King Aelfred (the Great) of Wessex, AD 885, entitled ' Gregory's Pastoral care'. The earliest recorded use in modern English is in Sir Walter Scott's Old Mortality, 1816: "Poor Richard was to me as an eldest son, the apple of my eye." It also appears in the Bible, Deuteronomy 32:10 (King James Version) He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. and Zechariah 2:8: For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye. See also - phrases coined by Sir Walter Scott." http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/34850.html

Copyright 2023, Wired Ivy, LLC

Answerbag | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy