CUMMIN.—Cummin (or cumin) is the seed of the Cuminum cyminum, an annual herbaceous umbellifer. It has a slender, branching stem, and grows to the height of a foot. The seeds, which are ovoid in form, are strongly aromatic, and have a flavour not unlike that of caraway, but more pungent. Cummin was used by the Jews as a condiment, and also for flavouring bread. It has carminative and other medicinal properties, and was employed not only as a remedy for colic, but also to stanch excessive bleeding, and to allay swellings. It is indigenous to Upper Egypt and the Mediterranean countries, but it was also cultivated from early times in Western Asia, India, and China.
Cummin is mentioned twice in the Bible (Isaiah 28:25-27 בַּסֹן, and Matthew 23:23 κύμινον). In the latter passage Jesus rebukes the Pharisees, because they paid tithe of mint, and anise, and , and omitted the weightier matters of the Law.
Literature.—Encyc. Brit. s.v.; Tristram, Nat. Hist. of the Bible.
Hugh Duncan.