Cummin 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.