The story you may have heardThe name suggests the plant came from Jerusalem or the Holy Land. It is native to North America and reached Europe via France and the Netherlands in the early 1600s. The standard explanation, folk-etymology of Italian girasole, is itself unproven. Rivals include the Dutch place-name Ter Neusen and a Puritan 'New Jerusalem'. No Semitic word is involved, and 'artichoke' only describes the taste.