bee

Use this forum to suggest Good Words for Professor Beard.
tkowal
Lexiterian
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bee

Postby tkowal » Tue Sep 17, 2019 11:28 am

This word sounds very Germanic but I wonder whether it is related to French abeille.

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Slava
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Re: bee

Postby Slava » Fri Jul 30, 2021 7:32 am

I've always liked the phrase 'bee in one's bonnet'. Come to find out, it used to mean twitter-pated or a bit crazy, not just somewhat obsessing over something.
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.

David Myer
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Re: bee

Postby David Myer » Fri Aug 06, 2021 7:36 am

Excellent suggestion, tkowal.

A Google search reveals this:

Bee is derived from the Old English bēn meaning “a prayer, a favor.” By the late eighteenth century, bee had become commonly associated with the British dialect form, been or bean, referring to the joining of neighbors to work on a single activity to help a neighbor in need: sewing bee, quilting bee, etc.

So! Does this suggest that (fascinatingly) the working bee that we do at our children's school at the weekend (well, used to do) precedes the buzzing bee?


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