Black Seed Around the World
There is lot of confusion about the names of Black Seed (Nigella Sativa) which is primarily due to different countries and regions where it is used and grown. In English it is commonly referred to as Black Cumin or Black Caraway, although it has no relation to the common Cumin or Caraway that is used as a spice in cooking. That is why the popular name "Black Seed" best describes this herb and this name has been associated with Nigella Sativa for the last 30 years in the United States, Middle East and Europe.
Gernot Katzer culinary spice expert and former researcher at the University of Graz, Austria, has compiled an extensive list of the different names of this remarkable herb and spice in 63 languages. Its interesting as he notes that nearly all names of Black Seed contain an element meaning black
in reference to the unusually dark colour of the seeds and have a second part that means cumin
, caraway
or simply grain
.
Albanian Fara e zezë Amharic ጥቁር አዝሙድ Tikur Azmud Arabic حبة السوداء, حبة البركة, كمون اسود, شونيز حَبَّة الْسَوْدَاء, حَبَّة الْبَرَكَة, كَمُّون أَسْوَد, شُونِيز Habbet as-suda, Habbeh as-sudah, Habbet al-suda, Habbeh al-suda, Habbah sauda, Habbah al-baraka, Kamun aswad, Sanouz, Shuniz, Shunez, Sinouj Assamese কালজিৰা Kaljira Azeri Çörək otu Чөрәк оту Bengali কাল জিরা, কালোজিরা Kalo jira Bulgarian Челебитка посевна, Черен кимион Chelebitka posevna, Cheren kimion Catalan Sanuj, Barba d’ermità Chinese
(Cantonese)黑種草 [hàk júng chóu] Hak jung chou Chinese
(Mandarin)黑種草 [hēi zhǒng cǎo] Hei zhong cao Croatian Crni kumin, Crnog kima Czech Černý kmín, Černucha Danish Sortkommen Dhivehi ކަޅު ދިރި Kalu dhiri Dutch Nigelle, Narduszaad English Black Cumin, Black Caraway, Black Seed Esperanto Nigelo Estonian Mustköömen, Põld-mustköömen Farsi سیاه دانه Siah daneh Finnish Ryytineito, Sipulinsiemen, Rohtoneidonkukka, Mustakumina, Mustasiemen; Neidonkukka (applies to the whole genus) French Cheveux de Vénus, Nigelle, Poivrette Gaelic Lus an fhograidh German Zwiebelsame, Nigella, Schwarzkümmel Greek Μελάνθιον, Μελάνθιο, Νιγκέλα Melanthion, Melanthio, Ninkela Hebrew קצח קֶצַח Ketzah, Qetsach Hindi कलौंजी, कलोंजी Kalaunji, Kalonji Hungarian Feketekömény, Parasztbors, Kerti katicavirág, Borzaskata mag Indonesian Jinten hitam Italian Nigella, Grano nero Japanese ニゲラ, ニジェーラ Nigera, Nijera Kannada ಕರಿ ಜೀರಿಗೆ Kari jirige Kazakh Содана Sodana Korean 블랙쿠민, 대회향, 니겔라, 흑종초 Pullaek-kumin, Tae-hoehyang, Nigella; Hukchongcho (Nigella damascena) Latin Git Latvian Melnsēklīte Lithuanian Juodgrūdė Maithili मङरैला Mangrela Malay Jintan hitam Malayalam കരിഞ്ചീരകം, കറുത്തജീരകം Karinjeeragam, Karuta jirakam Nepali मुग्रेलो, मुन्ग्रेलो Mugrelo, Mungrelo Newari
(Nepalbhasa)मुग्रेला, हाजी, हजि Mugrela, Haji Norwegian Svartkarve Oriya କଳାଜୀରା Kalajira Polish Czarnuszka siewna Portuguese Nigela, Cominho-preto Punjabi ਕਲੌਂਜੀ Kalaunji Romanian Chimion negru, Negrilică, Cernușcă (Cernuşcă) Russian Чернушка, Нигелла Chernushka, Nigella Serbian Ћурукота, Чурукот, Чурекот, Црно семе, Црњика храпава Ćurukota, Ćurukot, Čurekot, Crno seme, Crnjika hrapava Sinhala කලුදුරු Kaluduru Slovak Černuška siata, Černuška, Černuška damascénska, Egyptská čierna rasca Slovenian Vzhodna črnika Spanish Niguilla, Pasionara Swedish Svartkummin Tamil கருஞசீரகம் Karunjiragam Telugu నల్లజీలకర్ర Nallajilakarra Thai เทียนดำ Thian dam Tibetan ཟི་ར་ནག་པོ་ Zira nagpo Tulu ಕಾಳಜೀರಿಗೆ Kalajirige Turkish Çörek otu, Çöreotu, Çörekotu tohumu, Ekilen, Hakiki çöreotu, Kara çörek otu, Siyah kimyon, Siyah susam Ukrainian Чорнушка посівна Chornushka posivna Urdu کلونجی Kalonji Yiddish ניגעלע, טשערניטשקע Nigele, Tshernitshke