ARTICHOKE, Cynara scolymus, a thistle-like perennial plant, now growing wild in the s. of Europe, but probably a native of Asia. The genus cynara belongs to the natu ral order composite', sub-order cynarocephala, and is distihgnished by the bracts of the involucre being fleshy at the base, and emargimite, with a hard point, and the receptacle fringed. C. .scolymus has the radical leaves 3 to 4 ft. long, somewhat spiny, sonic of them pinnatifid, some undivided. The stem is 2 or 3 ft. high, branched, with large heads of violet-colored (sometimes white) thistle-like flowers at the summits of the branches. The involucre is tumid, and consists of fleshy, roundish-ovate, crenate, acu minate, imbricated scales. The seeds are elongated and quadrangular, with smooth and firmly attached pappus. The plant has been long cultivated for the sake of the delicate succulent receptacles of the heads of flowers, taken before the flowers expand, which are boiled and eaten, or, on the continent of Europe, eaten raw with salt and pepper. The part used is the same which is called the cheese in thistles by children, and is sometimes eaten by them. The tender central leaf-stalk is also occasionally used in the same way as that of the cardoon. Several varieties are in cultivation, differing in the more or less spiny leaves, and the more or less globose form of the head. Artichokes are generally propagated by rooted slips or suckers in spring. These are planted in rows about 4 ft. asunder, and 2 ft. apart in the row. The A. bed continues productive for several years. Seaweed is an excellent manure.—The cardoon (q.v.) belongs to the samegenus.—The Jerusalem A. (q.v.) is a totally different plant.
ARTICLE (Lat. articulus, a joint) signifies in general a part of a systematic whole.
Article (Lat. articulus, a joint) signifies in general a part of a systematic whole. Thus, we speak of the several articles of a confession; the articles of war; a leading arti cle, etc.
The use of A. as a grammatical term arose as follows. In such a sentence as, "IIe found that (or the) man that he was looking for," the Greeks considered the defin ing particles as connecting the two parts of the sentence, and called them joints (Gr. arthre, Lat. artieuli); the name was subsequently confined to the first of the two, the other being called the relative.
In English, there are two articles—the definite the, and the indefinite a or an; and other modern languages have corresponding words. But articles are not essential to language. The Latin had no articles, and the Greek, as well as the older Germanic lan guages, the neso-Gothic and Old Norse, e.g., had only the definite A. " In no lan guage," says Dr. Latham, " in its oldest stage, is there ever a word giving, in its primary sense, the idea of an or of the. As tongues become modern, some word with a similar sense is used to express the relation. In the course of time, a change of form takes place, corresponding to the change of meaning." The definite articles originate uniformly in demonstrative pronouns. Eng. the is only a weakened form of that (Anglo-Sax. that). The same is the case with Ger. der; and Fr. le, Ital. al and and Sp. cl, are all from the Lat. ille," that." In like manner, an or a is from the old form of one (ane); Ger. ein is both one and a; and so are Fr. un, Ital. and Sp. 21)20, both from Lat. WM = oar.
In the Scandinavian tongues, the article is attached to the end of the word; the Danish, for example, writes hong-en, the king; hus-et, the house.