"bulge in the throat caused by the cartilage of the larynx," 1731, corresponding to Latin pomum Adami, perhaps an inexact translation of Hebrew tappuah haadam, literally "man's swelling," from ha-adam "the man" + tappuah "anything swollen."
The reference is to the legend that a piece of the forbidden fruit (commonly believed to have been an apple) that Eve gave Adam stuck in his throat. It is more prominent in men than women. The term is mentioned early 15c. as the name of an actual oriental and Mediterranean fruit, a variety of lime with an indentation fancied to resemble the marks of Adam's teeth.