artichoke

artichoke
\ \ [16] The word artichoke is of Arabic origin; it comes from al kharshōfthe artichoke’, which was the Arabic term for a plant of the thistle family with edible flower-parts. This was borrowed into Spanish as alcarchofa, and passed from there into Italian as arcicioffo. In northern dialects this became articiocco, the form in which the word was borrowed into other European languages, including English.
\ \ The term was first applied to the Jerusalem artichoke, a plant with edible tuberous roots, early in the 17th century. The epithet Jerusalem has no connection with the holy city; it arose by folk etymology, that is, the adaptation of an unfamiliar foreign word to the lexical system of one’s own language. In this case the word was girasole, Italian for ‘sunflower’ (the Jerusalem artichoke is of the sunflower family).

Word origins - 2ed. . 2005.

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  • Artichoke — Ar ti*choke, n. [It. articiocco, perh. corrupted fr. the same word as carciofo; cf. older spellings archiciocco, archicioffo, carciocco, and Sp. alcachofa, Pg. alcachofra; prob. fr. Ar. al harshaf, al kharsh[=u]f.] (Bot.) 1. The {Cynara scolymus} …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • artichoke — (n.) 1530s, from articiocco, Northern Italian variant of It. arcicioffo, from O.Sp. alcarchofa, from Arabic al hursufa artichoke. The Northern Italian variation probably is from influence of ciocco stump. Folk etymology has twisted the word in… …   Etymology dictionary

  • artichoke — ► NOUN (also globe artichoke) ▪ the unopened flower head of a thistle like plant, eaten as a vegetable. ORIGIN Italian articiocco, from Arabic …   English terms dictionary

  • artichoke — [ärt′ə chōk΄] n. [It dial. articiocco < OSp alcarchofa < Ar al ḥarshaf (var. kharshūf)] 1. a) a thistlelike plant (Cynara scolymus) of the composite family b) its flower head, cooked as a vegetable 2. short for JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE …   English World dictionary

  • Artichoke — This article is about the globe artichoke. For other uses, see Artichoke (disambiguation). Artichoke Scientific classification Kingdom: Plantae …   Wikipedia

  • artichoke — /ahr ti chohk /, n. 1. a tall, thistlelike composite plant, Cynara scolymus, native to the Mediterranean region, of which the numerous scalelike bracts and receptacle of the immature flower head are eaten as a vegetable. 2. the large, rounded,… …   Universalium

  • artichoke — [16] The word artichoke is of Arabic origin; it comes from al kharshōf ‘the artichoke’, which was the Arabic term for a plant of the thistle family with edible flower parts. This was borrowed into Spanish as alcarchofa, and passed from there into …   The Hutchinson dictionary of word origins

  • artichoke — noun An edible plant related to the thistle. Syn: globe artichoke See Also: artichoke heart, Jerusalem artichoke …   Wiktionary

  • artichoke — ar|ti|choke [ˈa:tıtʃəuk US ˈa:rtıtʃouk] n [Date: 1500 1600; : Italian dialect; Origin: articiocco, from Arabic al khurshuf the artichoke ] 1.) also globe artichoke a type of round green vegetable, which has ↑buds with leaves that you eat, which… …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • artichoke — [ α:tɪtʃəʊk] noun 1》 a plant with large, thistle like flower heads. [Cynara scolymus.] 2》 (also globe artichoke) the unopened flower head of the artichoke, of which the heart and the fleshy bases of the bracts are edible. 3》 see Jerusalem… …   English new terms dictionary

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