The Arabic name is shaqa'iq An-Nu'man translated literally as the wounds, or "pieces", of Nu'man.[3][4] One possible source of the name traces back to the Sumerian god of food and vegetation, Tammuz, whose Phoenician epithet was "Nea'man".[5] Tammuz is generally considered to have been drawn into the Greek pantheon as Adonis, who died of his wounds while hunting wild boar. The deity is transformed into a flower, stained by the blood of Adonis.[5] Tammuz's Phoenician epithet "Nea'man" is believed to be both the source of "an-Nu'man" in Arabic which came through Syriac, and of "anemone" which came through Greek.[5] Another possible source of the name is An-Nu'man III Bin Al-Munthir, the last Lakhmid king of Al-Hirah (582-c.609 AD) and a Christian Arab. An-Nu'man is known to have protected the flowers during his reign.[3] According to myth, the flower thrived on An-Nu'man's grave, paralleling the death and rebirth of Adonis.
2 
{K:5147} 2/3/2017