What does a Spelling Bee mean? It has nothing to do with a bee!?

Question

Spelling Bee makes no sense. How did they get that name " The Spelling Bee?"

Answer 1

From the Scripps National Spelling Bee website:
(http://www.spellingbee.com/terminology.shtml)

The word bee, as used in spelling bee, is a language puzzle that has never been satisfactorily accounted for. A fairly old and widely-used word, it refers to a community social gathering at which friends and neighbors join together in a single activity (sewing, quilting, barn raising, etc.), usually to help one person or family. The earliest known example in print is a spinning bee, in 1769. Other early occurrences are husking bee (1816), apple bee (1827), and logging bee (1836). Spelling bee is apparently an American term. It first appeared in print in 1875, but it seems certain that the word was used orally for several years before that.

Those who used the word, including most early students of language, assumed that it was the same word as referred to the insect. They thought that this particular meaning had probably been inspired by the obvious similarity between these human gatherings and the industrious, social nature of a beehive. But in recent years scholars have rejected this explanation, suggesting instead that this bee is a completely different word. One possibility is that it comes from the Middle English word bene, which means "a prayer" or "a favor" (and is related to the more familiar word boon). In England, a dialectal form of this word, been or bean, referred to "voluntary help given by neighbors toward the accomplishment of a particular task." (Webster's Third New International Dictionary). Bee may simply be a shortened form of been, but no one is entirely certain.

A Dictionary of American English. Sir William A. Craigie and James R. Hulbert, eds. University of Chicago Press, 1944.
A Dictionary of Americanisms. Mitford M. Mathews, ed. Univ. of Chicago Press, 1951.
Mencken, H.L. The American Language. New York: Alfred Knopf, 1938 (suppl. I, 1945: suppl. II, 1948).

Answer 2

In this case, a "bee" is a social gathering for a specific purpose--you can also have a quilting bee, a husking bee, etc. A spelling bee is a gathering for the purpose of having a spelling contest, in which contestants are given words to spell of increasing difficulty--the last one who has not mis-spelled a word wins.

Answer 3

My first thought was Quilting Bee where a group of people get together to make a quilt.
That meant there was likely something to the word Bee,
So I looked it up in Wikipedia, and in their disambiguation (what a mouthful that is) they give one meaning that fits spelling bee perfectly.
Bee (gathering), a social gathering of people for work or competition

Answer 4

The origin of the word "bee" as used in "spelling bee" is unclear. "Bee" refers to "a gathering", where people join together in an activity

Answer 5

A social congregation with a specific duty being carried out -- an American
custom beginning about 1825. Wikipedia. Please go to wikipedia and look this up as no one has time to type pages and pages of references cited to "opinions" of the crazy "coined" American phrase with reference to a bee!
Lol! this is actually in the wikipedia stuff - ha!
Good Q -- laughed when I read it!

Answer 6

"bee" in "spelling bee" does not refer to an insect. "bee" also means a type of social gathering.

Answer 7

It originated from 'sewing bee' when a group of women got together to sew

These of course were called that because if the men came around to bug them they got stung with the needles Thereby these social events were dubbed bee's

Laura Ingles

Answer 8

You: a million. seem it up on the web and newspaper 2. prepare 3. attempt to be courageous 4. seem up the dictionary and internet 5. each of the above 6. (the large one) Have your associates help you. Interrogate the human beings who one previous Spelling Bees. try searching it up on Yahoo! search for.

Answer 9

the name dosent neccisarilly mean the insect bee
but if you've heard of a race car durBEE
thats what it means
its like another word for competition or a race
or somehting like that
i hope i explaned it right!! :)

Answer 10

It means you need to loose that fat on your belly and thighs. I think you should cut your diet down to 5 rice cakes a day!!! FATTY!!! and quit asking stupid questions that you know the answer to!!!