You like potato and I like potahto. You like apple and I like....

What came first, the chicken or the egg? While there's no simple answer to that I sure can answer if the apple came first or the potato.

In Farsi 

Potato سیب زمینی  /sib-e-zamini/

Apple سیب /sib/

Apples, also called the king of fruits, are native to Iran but they originate from Kazakhstan. Potatoes on the other hand aren't native to Persia. They were actually introduced by Sir John Malcolm during the early 1800s. The potato was introduced to Europe by Spanish explorers and the Europeans spread it around the world. It wasn't easy to persuade Persians to cultivate potatoes. You know it's serious when there's a scientific paper on the origin of potatoes in Persia(1).

The potato had many names "Alou-e-Malcom", "Malcolm's plum", "Alou-e-zamin" (Alou zamini) and "alou". In some parts of Iran it's still called "alou" like in Hindi, Nepali, Punjabi, Sindhi, Bengali, and Urdu but "sib-e-zamini" is prevalent today. 

In Punjabi

Potato ਆਲੂ /aaloo/

Apple ਸੇਬ /seb/

Punjab is not known for apple cultivation. The potato seems to be introduced by the East India Company. Britishers meant business I also stumbled upon a travel journal by Godfrey Thomas Vigne. who was a traveler and he mentioned in his book(2):

"Potatoes that had been sent to Kabul by Captain Wade, from Lodiana, had been planted by the Nawab and promised very well".

Another interesting find was Nimatnama. It's a 15th-century text with recipes of foods and drinks the Sultan of Malwa, Ghiyas Al-Din Shah Khilji enjoyed. Eight different types of fillings for Samosas are listed and none of them are with potatoes. 

An illustration of from the Namitnama of samosas being prepared. Credit: British Library

Long story very short. There's a lot to languages and play of words. One can almost track the lineage of mundane entities like potatoes. 

1) Rahemi, A., (2020). A chronicle of Introduction of Potato in Persia, Asian Agri-History, Vol. 24(1), p. 75-80.

2) Vigne, Godfrey Thomas, A Personal Narratice Of A Visit To Ghuzni, Kabul, and Afghanistan, and of a residence at the court of Dost Mohamed, with notices of Runjit Singh, Khiva, and the Russian expedition, p. 173.