ETYMOLOGIES

The Genoese word articiocca (artichoke) derives, as in French, German and Russian, from the Arabic where one reads "quill of the earth". In fact "ard" (as the German Erde or in the English "earth") means in Arabic, earth and sciau means quill. Ardisciau is thus with the phonetic modifications of time and place transformed in the articiocca, artichot in French, and artichocke in German and so on.
Casalino Pierluigi, on Dec. 28th 2013