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CUM-MIN OR QUEMAN, HELP ME CLEAR THIS ONE UP

Poll Results: DO YOU SAY "CUMMIN" OR "QUEMAN"?

Poll expired: Sep 2, 2011  
  • 25% (1)
    CUMMIN
  • 75% (3)
    QUEMAN
4 Total Votes  
post #1 of 11
8/18/11 at 9:37pm
Thread Starter 

As an aussie I know we say things a lot different to the way you guys pronounce things but this one is a beauty. We are taught that if a word has two constanants in the middle of it then the vowel before it is a short sounding vowel. Eg if you are "bugging" me you are bug-ging me, certainly you are not bewging me.

However in the case of a word also being the name for something this rule can vary. I have always called it "cum-min" but my mother corrected me and said I should be saying "Queman", so of course I started doing that to keep her happy and then my son told me that it should be "cum-min" as it had always been.

So which is it and why I ask you? Lets vote on it...

I AM SIMPLY GOING TO GO WITH A MAJORITY RULES .

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post #2 of 11
8/18/11 at 10:20pm

According to "Food Lover's Companion", Sharon Tyler Herbst, page 185, cumin (note the single consonant)

 is pronounced:

  • KUH-mihn, or
  • KYOO-mihn, or
  • KOO-mihn

 

I've always used the first alternative but have heard the second, which really sounds pretty close to Queman

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post #3 of 11
8/18/11 at 10:45pm

here in the desert southwest where a lot of cumin is used, cumin is pronounced 'coo min'...

joey

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post #4 of 11
8/19/11 at 1:43am

In the UK it's coo min or sometimes Kyu min.

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post #5 of 11
8/19/11 at 5:14am

I've mostly heard it pronounced Kewmin but I have decided I will pronounce it Koomin from now on.

 

By the way, cumin only has one m.

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post #6 of 11
8/19/11 at 9:08pm

Being from (and still there) the southeast U.S. I have always called it que - men

So more or less that's close enough to que man   :)

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post #7 of 11
8/20/11 at 2:12am

Not a linguist, but I play one on TV.

 

From Wiktionary:

"From Old English cymen, from Latin cuminum, from Ancient Greek κύμινον (kúminon), itself of Semitic origin; cognate with Old High German kumin, and via Semitic route related to Hebrew כמון (kammon) and Arabic كمون (kammun)."

 

So, then,

 

Greek: κύμινον

 

kü'-mē-non

 

-equals-

 

Coo' min

 

No?

 

http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G2951

 

Anyways, say it however you want, we know what you mean.

Sometimes I say "kuh' min".  I like to wind people up.wink.gif

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post #8 of 11
8/20/11 at 1:05pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lich59xsjik

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post #9 of 11
8/20/11 at 3:33pm

I say koo-min.  I do not like it when folks pronounce 'coupons' as 'Q-pons'.  I'm annoyed at my stove, because it has a 'lite' position on the dial and not 'light' - but then I'm from an old school Jesuit prep school and the trend towards lazy, dumbed down language makes me sad.

 

mjb.

 

 

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post #10 of 11
8/20/11 at 11:35pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Capsaicin View Post

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lich59xsjik


Check 1:35 for proper pronunciation: http://www.youtube.com/user/henlips#p/u

 

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post #11 of 11
8/22/11 at 9:01am

Where I live, it's "KYOO-mihn" or "KOO-mihn". Or alternatively, the Mexican variant; "comino".

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