Cummin

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

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.

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

כמון , Isaiah 28:25; Isaiah 28:27; κυμινον , Matthew 23:23 .

This is an umbelliferous plant, in appearance resembling fennel, but smaller. Its seeds have a bitterish warm taste, accompanied with an aromatic flavour, not of the most agreeable kind. An essential oil is obtained from them by distillation. The Jews sowed it in their fields, and when ripe threshed out the seeds with a rod, Isaiah 28:25; Isaiah 28:27 . The Maltese sow it, and collect the seeds in the same manner.

Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words

1: Κύμινον (Strong'S #2951 — Noun Neuter — kuminon — koo'-min-on )

is an umbelliferous plant with aromatic seeds, used as a condiment, Matthew 23:23 .

Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types

Isaiah 28:25-27 (c) Probably in this story the wheat represents the Gospel message, while the other four grains represent other truths that should and do accompany Gospel preaching. In all of our preaching and teaching the good news about the rich provision the Lord JESUS makes for the soul should have the principal place. Other things that accompany this message may be prophecy, history, personal experience, godly living. Certainly there are many such truths to be found in all good teaching and preaching, but these are not to replace the Gospel of GOD's grace.

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

CUMMIN . The seed of an umbelliferous plant, the Cuminum cyminum (syriacum) , widely cultivated in and around Palestine. It is used to flavour dishes, and, more particularly, bread; in flavour and appearance it resembles carraway; it has long been credited with medicinal properties; it certainly is a carminative. It is even now beaten out with rods ( Isaiah 28:27 ). Tithes of cummin were paid by the Jews ( Matthew 23:23 ).

E. W. G. Masterman.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Cummin. Cummin is one of the cultivated plants of Palestine. Isaiah 28:25; Isaiah 28:27; Matthew 23:23. It is an umbelliferous plant something like fennel. The seeds have a bitterish warm taste and an aromatic flavor. The Maltese are said to grow it at the present day, and to thresh it in the manner described by Isaiah.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

A plant much like fennel, and which produces blossoms and branches in an umbellated form. Its seeds yield an aromatic oil, of a warm, stimulating nature, Isaiah 28:25-27 . Our Lord reproved the scribes and Pharisees for so very carefully paying tithe of mint, anise, and cummin, and yet neglecting good works and obedience to God's law, Matthew 23:23 .

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

An umbelliferous plant like fennel, with aromatic, pungent, carminative seeds; beaten out with a rod, not threshed (Isaiah 28:25; Isaiah 28:27); tithed by the punctilious Pharisees (Matthew 23:23). "Cummin splitting" was a Greek adage for cheese-paring parsimony (Aristophanes, Wasps). Grown still in Malta.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

A plant yielding a small aromatic seed, used as a condiment and for medicines. It is beaten out by a rod, and is one of the bountiful gifts of God. Isaiah 28:25,27 . The Pharisees paid tithes of it, whereas they omitted the weighter matters of the law, judgement, mercy, and faith.Matthew 23:23 .

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Cummin. Matthew 23:23. A low herb of the fennel kind, which produces aromatic seeds and is found in Syria. In Isaiah 28:25; Isaiah 28:27, reference is made to the manner of sowing and threshing it.

Holman Bible Dictionary

Cuminum cyminum Isaiah 28:2528:27Matthew 23:23Luke 11:42

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Isaiah 28:25,27Matthew 23:23

Webster's Dictionary

(n.) Same as Cumin.

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Fig. 142—Cummin Plant

Cummin, or Kammon, is an umbelliferous plant, mentioned both in the Old and New Testaments, and which, like the dill and the coriander, continues to be cultivated in modern, as it was in ancient times, in Eastern countries. These are similar to, and used for many of the same purposes as the anise and caraway, which supply their place, and are more common in Europe. All these plants produce fruits, commonly called seeds, which abound in essential oil of a more or less grateful flavor, and warm stimulating nature; hence they were employed in ancient as in modern times, both as condiments and as medicines.

Cummin is first mentioned in Isaiah : 'When he (the plowman) hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin?' showing that it was extensively cultivated, as it is in the present day, in Eastern countries, as far even as India. In the south of Europe it is also cultivated to some extent. England is chiefly supplied from Malta and Sicily; 53 cwt. having been imported in the year 1839 from these islands. In the above chapter of Isaiah cummin is again mentioned: 'For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart-wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod.' This is most applicable to the fruit of the common cummin, which, when ripe, may be separated from the stalk with the slightest stroke, and would be completely destroyed by the turning round of a wheel, which, bruising the seed, would press out the oil on which its virtues depend.

In the New Testament cummin is mentioned in , where our Savior denounces the scribes and Pharisees, who paid their 'tithe of mint, and anise, and cummin,' but neglected the weightier matters of the law.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

kum´in ( כּמּן , kammōn  ; κύμινον , kúminon ): The seed of the herb Cuminum cyminum (Natural Order Umbelliferae ). It has carminative properties and is used for flavoring various dishes, especially during fasts. In flavor and appearance it resembles caraway, though it is less agreeable to western palates. As an illustration of Yahweh's wisdom it is said (Isaiah 28:25 , Isaiah 28:27 ) that cummin is scattered in sowing and beaten out with a rod in threshing. These facts are true in Palestine today. The Jews paid tithes of cummin (Matthew 23:23 ).