Where Does The Word Artichoke Come From?

The etymology of the word artichoke is quite fascinating. It is derived from the Arabic word al-haršuf which is in turn derived from the Old Spanish word alcarchofa.

An artichoke is a kind of vegetable. It comes in three different varieties Globe, Jerusalem and Chinese. The most common kind is the Globe artichoke- which is a kind of thistle. The Jerusalem artichoke is a species of sunflower. The Chinese artichoke is a kind of woundwort.

Since the globe artichoke is prickly owing to its sharp tipped bracts- people have often wondered whether an artichoke gets its name from some connection with choking. This is not the case. It is derived from the word al-harsuf which is the Arabic word for the artichoke plant. Along with several other words in Arabic artichoke also passed in to Spanish, when the Muslims conquered Spain during the Middle Ages. Later it passed in to English where it got its present pronunciation and spelling.