צִבְעוֹנִי

In many languages of the world, the tulip is called by a name similar to its Latin name Tulipa, which itself is a corruption of the word "turban," as the shape of the flower resembles this headgear. In Hebrew, the name "צִבְעוֹנִי" (tzivoni) was given to this flower by the writer Israel Haim Taviov in 1902, when he published volume II of his book "Eden HaYeladim" (Children's Paradise), a collection of children's stories, including the story "Perach Katan" (Small Flower). In this story, Taviov described "the tzivʿonim (tulips) which knew that they are beautiful in their colors more than all the flowers, raised their stature so that they would be seen by all." From the small glossary at the beginning of the story, it appears that Taviov intended the name of the flower to be "צִבְעוֹן" (tzivʿon) in the singular, inspired by the name of a minor biblical figure mentioned in the Book of Genesis: "Esau took his wives from the daughters of Canaan... and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite" (36:2). However, in the story itself, the flowers are always mentioned in the plural form ("tzivʿonim"), and therefore readers back-derived the singular form as "צבעוני" (tzivoni), and this is how the word was adopted in Hebrew. The name was particularly fitting for the flower due to its bright and varied colors, as the Hebrew root צ-ב-ע relates to color.