Cdltdre

Only 2 Es 8« AV and RV, ' give us seed unto our heart, and culture to our under- standing, that there may come fruit of it.' The Eng. word is a direct and accurate tr. of the Lat. (cultura), and is used in its own earliest sense of the cultivation or tillage of the soil. Coverdale, Matthew, and the Bishops have ' build,' Geneva ' prepare,' but Dooay 'give tillage to' the under- standing. J. Hastings. CUMBER (from old Fr. combrer, 'to hinder,' which is from low Lat. cumbrus, i.e. cumulus, 'a heap' ; thus c. = 'put a heap in the way'). — 1. To harass, worry, Lk 10*" ' ilartha was cumbered about much serving.' Cf. Coverdale's tr. of 1 K 21' ' What is ye matter that thy sprete is so combred ? ' The usual prep, is ' with ' ; here 'about' is a lit. tr. of the Gr. irepi (7repie<nraTo irfpi ttoWtiv iiaKovlav). RVm gives ' distracted,' like Ostervald's distraite, and as 1 Co "^ ' without dis- traction,' AV and RV (dTrfpto-irdo-Twt). ' Cumbered ' is Tindale's ; Wyclif has ' martha bisied aboute the oft seruyse ' ; Coverdale, ' Martha made hir self moch to do to serue him.' 2. To 'block up,' ' burden,' Lk 13' ' Cut it down ; why cumbereth it the ground ? ' again from Tindale (and scarcely obsolete in this sense); Wyclif 'ocupieth,' fr. Vulg. occupat ; Geneva, ' why feepeth it the ground baren?' a better tr. of the Gr. here {Karapyiu, a favourite word with St. Paul, elsewhere only in this passage and He 2", AV ' destroy,' RV ' bring to nought ). Cf. Bunyan, ffoly War (Clar. Press ed. p. 47), 'Thou hast been a Cumber-ground long already.' Cumbrance, only Dt 1" 'your c' (crtnp), and Is 1" RVm ' your new moons . . . are a c. unto me ' (irioS •'?v v.i, AV and RV ' trouble '). Tlie mod. forms 'encumber,' etc., are not quite equi- valent, being too wholly passive. As Davies {Bible Eng. p. 211) remarks, Spenser's 'cum- brous gnattes '(F. Q. I. i. 23) seems now a singu- larly inappropriate epithet. J. Hastings. COMI See Tautha.