Talk:Cumin

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Contents 1 Name 2 2nd most popular spice in world? 3 "native to the eastern Mediterranean region east to India." ???? 4 Geographical bias?? 5 hallucinogen? 6 "cumin cider" 7 Rewrite

[edit] Name

The text currently says:

The name cumin is a distortion of the Persian city Kerman, 
where most of ancient Persia's cumin was produced. For the Persians the 
expression "carrying cumin to Kerman" is the same as the [[English 
language]] phrase "carrying coals to Newcastle." Kerman, locally 
called Kermun, became Kumun and then cumin in the European languages.

This is highly unlikely, and I suspect it is a folk etymology. The name "cumin" (in various forms) is attested in many, many ancient languages going all the way back to Sumerian![1] Granted, Kerman does suggest that the city has a long history, but I don't think the ultimate origin of the spice plant can clearly be traced to the Persian city, and certainly not to the modern dialect pronunciation. --Iustinus 21:20, 28 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] 2nd most popular spice in world?

Penzeys Spices claims that cumin is the second most popular spice in the world (after black pepper). (http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/p-penzeyscumin.html) Anyone know anything about this claim? It would be interesting to add if it can be verified. --JdwNYC 00:21, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] "native to the eastern Mediterranean region east to India." ????

The eastern Mediterraneum is not east to India!!!!

Are you serious? The wording may be awkward, but it clearly means FROM the easter Med TO east India.--171.161.160.10 16:43, 20 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Geographical bias??

This phrase: Their smell can also be detected in the eater's sweat even after consuming only small amounts. (citation-needed) was removed on 11 Oct by Abossone (talk · contribs) with the following edit summary: his violates wikipedia's policy of preventing geographic bias.. I fail to see how this is a geographical bias after reading Wikipedia:Neutral point of view/Examples. Apparently the remover thought it was POV. Would it also be POV to say that the smell of a smoker or drinker is noticeable by someone who doesn't? I hardly think so. I'm actually not sure whether or not cumin does cause a smell, but Abossone apparently thought that it is, but worded in a way that is denigrating to cumin eaters. Could Abossone please clarify why this is POV so that we can find an alternative NPOV wording? Han-Kwang 00:01, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

I tried to reformat the above entry so it would show the entire thing, because I want to talk about it. Any page-wizards know why it all went on one line, and/or how to fix it?

It is entirely true that the fragrance of cumin is released through the pores. I like that about cumin. Any reason not to include a sentence about this phenomenon? Eleven even (talk) 00:54, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Fix done —αlεx•mullεr 00:58, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] hallucinogen?

I removed it due to lack of refutable evidence. So source, links, etc please. Likewise the formating for that part was improper. 60.234.236.149 03:44, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "cumin cider"

This is a pun, folks. "Cumin cider" = "cum inside her."

This vandalism has survived over a year in the article, and unfortunately a quick google search shows that it has spread into other articles that use wikipedia as their only reference.

Cumin tea is a real use of cumin and appears to be traditional in Latino cultures, especially as an aid in inducing pregnancy. But the process of seeping cumin seeds in boiling water is entirely different from the various ways of producing fruit beverages known as cider. So different that "cumin cider" seems more likely to be a sophomoric prank than to be a legitimate colloquialism.

In absence of any valid citation, the line about cumin cider should be removed. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.73.243.231 (talk) 18:37, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Rewrite

The section "cultivation and uses" needs a rewrite. Much information appears twice. OliAtlason (talk) 02:56, 9 March 2008 (UTC)