{"id":5663,"date":"2011-06-10T12:53:02","date_gmt":"2011-06-10T19:53:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/?p=5663"},"modified":"2013-05-15T23:42:10","modified_gmt":"2013-05-16T06:42:10","slug":"what-the-bee-in-spelling-bee-means","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/2011\/06\/what-the-bee-in-spelling-bee-means\/","title":{"rendered":"What the “Bee” in “Spelling Bee” Means"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Today I found out<\/a> what the “bee” in “spelling bee” means.<\/p>\n

While no one knows exactly where the word derives from, the “bee” in “spelling bee” simply means something to the effect of “gathering” or “get together”.\u00a0 The earliest documented case of this word appearing with this meaning was in 1769, referring to a “spinning bee”, where people would gather to protest purchasing goods from Britain due to the high taxes on those items.<\/p>\n

Other gatherings that were commonly labeled with “bee” were: apple bee, logging bee, quilting bee, barn bee, hanging bee, sewing bee, field bee, and corn husking bee, among others.\u00a0 Basically, any sort of major competition or work gathering, with a specific task in mind tended to get the “bee” label added on the end.\u00a0 With many of these bees being tedious work events, it was also customary to serve refreshments and provide entertainment at the end of the task.<\/p>\n

The first documented case of a spelling bee called such was in 1825.\u00a0 However, it is likely that there were spelling bees before this date.\u00a0 This was simply the first time someone seems to have written down in print that has survived to today “spelling bee”.<\/p>\n

There are a variety of theories as to where this word derives from.\u00a0 It was long thought that it simply came from the similarity between insect bees working together towards a specific task and a gathering of people to accomplish some task.\u00a0 However, this etymology has no specific documented evidence to support it; rather, simply stems from making a logical leap.<\/p>\n

The popular theory among etymologists today is that it is more likely that the actual origin of “bee”, in the sense of “gathering”, derives from the Old English b\u0113n (prayer \/ favor).\u00a0 This, in turn, gave rise to the Middle English “bene”, which had more or less the same meaning as b\u0113n except now adding “an extra service by a tenant to his lord”.\u00a0 Finally, this resulted in “bean” meaning “help given by neighbors”.\u00a0 The British dialectic version of this word is then “bee”.<\/p>\n

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