Everyday LifeGreek → English
Cumin
/ˈkʌmɪn/noun
A warm, earthy spice made from the dried seed of a small plant in the parsley family.
The Greek roots
κύμινον
kýminon
cumin
Literally: “cumin seed”
Follow a root:κύμινον1 word
The story of the word
Greek did not build this word, it received it. Κύμινον matches Akkadian kamūnu and Hebrew kammon, and it turns up in Linear B as ku-mi-no, which makes it one of the oldest trade goods you can still buy under its Bronze Age name. Matthew's gospel has Jesus attack the Pharisees for tithing mint, dill and cumin while neglecting justice, which tells you how ordinary the spice already was.
- How it travelled
- Semitic → Ancient Greek → Latin → English
- First recorded
- Old English
In a sentence
Toast the cumin in a dry pan until the kitchen smells of it, then grind.