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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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About this entry:
First published 1952 (SND Vol. III). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

CUMMINS, CUMMINGS, COMIN'S, n.pl. The rootlets of malt (Bnff.2 1941; Uls. 1880 W. H. Patterson Gl. Ant. and Dwn., cummings); “the dried radicles of malted barley; comes. Also maut cummins” (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B., comin's, obs.); “draff, used as cattle-feed” (Abd.27 1946). [′kʌmənz]Sc. 1909 Colville 175:
I always heard the maltman calling these [sprouts of barley] “cummins.” They represented the germination of the malt as dried on the floor of the malt-barn.Bnff. 1930 (per Abd.5):
Cummins . . . was given me by the local miller who had been employed for some time in a distillery on Fiddich side. When the malt was dried the root growth (cummins) used to come through the kiln-plates (which are perforated) and the malt was afterwards screened. The cummins were bagged and eagerly sought by gardeners as a fertiliser.Hdg. 1889 J. Lumsden Lays Linton 157: 
A wicked little, high-speed mill for grinding cummings.

[Found in Eng. (Chs.) dial. in form comeing, id., from come, to sprout at the lower end as barley does in the process of malting (E.D.D.). Also n. come, in same sense, now chiefly dial., found in Eng. from c.1440 (N.E.D.).]

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