re 414 UMBELLIFER. 
weeear yy, S66, &C Tho use of cumin aaa spice and — 
medicine is of the highest antiquity, and appears to have spread 
from the cradle of civilization in Egypt to Arabia, Persia, Indi 
and China. Cumin is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, it is 
the «ipwov of the Greeks, and Theophrastus (H. P. 1X.) t 
us that it was the custom to utter curses when sowing it (pro: 
bably to avert the evil eye). Dioscorides (iii., 61,) calls 
kipuvov ypepov, and notices its medicinal properties ; in the sam 
chapter he mentions another kind of cumin, “ the king’s cumin 
of Hippocrates,” which the Arabians identify with ajowan, 
and in the next chapter two kinds of wild cumin. Populat 
allusions to cumin are common in the writings of the Greeks 
and Romans, cumin and salt was a symbol of friendship (Plut 
Symp. 5,10, 1). Pliny tells us that students eat it to make 
themselves look pale and interesting, Greek writers mention a 
kipwo-doxoy or cumin-box which was placed on the table li 
a salt-cellar. Fliickiger and Hanbury trace its use during t 
Middle Ages, when it appears to have been much valued 
i<>) 
for the same purpose in Italy, and on account of its suppos 
retentive powers is given to domestic animals to keep them 
from straying, and by girls to their sweethearts for the s 
reason. 
Jira and Jirana, the Sanskrit names for cumin, as wellas the 
Persian Zhireh or Zireh, and all the Indian vernacular names 
appear to be derived from the root J ri, and to allude to the 
digestive properties of the seeds ; other Sanskrit names are 
Ajaji “ that overcomes goats, ” 
