artichoke n.

thistle-like plant with large, prickly leaves, also the head of the flower stem, used as food, 1530s, from articiocco, Northern Italian variant of Italian arcicioffo, from Old Spanish alcarchofa, from Arabic al-hursufa "artichoke." The Northern Italian variation probably is from influence of ciocco "stump."

Folk etymology has twisted the word in English; the ending probably has been influenced by choke, and early forms of the word in English include archecokk, hortichock, artychough, hartichoake, reflecting various folk-etymologies from French and Latin words.

The plant is native to the Mediterranean and was known to the Romans and Greeks (see cardoon); the modern, improved variant seems to have been bred in North Africa (hence the new, Arabic name) and reached Italy by mid-15c. It was introduced into England in the reign of Henry VIII. French artichaut (16c.), German Artischocke (16c.) are from Italian, and from the same source come Russian artishoku, Polish karczock.