Would you eat a bacon, lettuce and love apple sandwich? You probably have eaten many of them. Love apple was the name used many years ago for the tomato. The tomato is originally an American plant. It was found in South America by early Spanish explorers. The word tomato comes from the native Nahuatl word tomatl. But when it moved north, the plant earned a different name. Remarkably, the settlers in North America thought it was poisonous. They believed that to eat it was surely to die. It was said that deserted suitors would threaten to eat a tomato to cause their coldhearted lovers-regret. Because of this legend, the settlers called the tomato a 'love apple.' While people enjoyed other native plants such as corn and sweet potatoes, everyone avoided the tomato. No one knows who first dared to eat a tomato. Perhaps someone was brave enough, or lovesick enough, to try out the truth of the rumors. Of course, whoever ate this fruit was perfectly safe. No one died from eating a love apple. Still, it was many years before the people fully believed that the tomato was a safe, and even good food. But its use did become common, and the plant was sent across the ocean to become part of many traditional European dishes. The language from which we derived the word tomato is______.