At one point or another during our schooling years, we have all been part of Spelling competitions held in class or at an inter-school level. These are often known as Spelling Bee contests though heaven knows what bees have to do with spelling words like we do!
A Spelling bee is a competition in which contestants are asked to spell a broad selection of words, usually with a varying degree of difficulty. The concept is thought to have originated in the United States and spelling bee events are now held in many other countries around the world.
The reasons and origins of this name have never been satisfactorily explained or agreed upon universally. But there are certain theories that might suit us without having to go ask the bees themselves.
A widely used old term, bee refers to a community social gathering at which friends and neighbours join together in a single activity such as sewing, quilting, husking, etc. to help a person or family.
People who initially used this term assumed that this particular meaning had probably been inspired by the obvious similarity between such human gatherings and the industrious, social nature of a beehive.
But later, scholars have rejected this theory claiming that this bee is an entirely different word.
One possibility is that it comes from the Middle English word bene, which means ‘a prayer’ or ‘a favour’ and is related to the more familiar word boon. It is from bene that we derive words like ‘benefit’. In England, a dialect form of this word boon, spelt been or bean, referred to voluntary help, given to a farmer by his neighbours, in time of harvest, haymaking, etc (The English Dialect Dictionary, 1905)
Bee may simply be a shortened form of been, but no one is entirely certain.
Spelling competitions were originally simply known as ‘spelling-matches’ but, being social gatherings, they came to be referred to as ‘spelling-bees’ by the early 19th century.
The Scripps National Spelling Bee held in the United States is considered the first official spelling competition inaugurated in 1925. The year 2016 was the 89th year of the Scripps National Spelling Bee that saw 2 co-winners.
The word connoisseur is somehow very common in spelling bees. Let’s begin spelling simple words first before we can reach words like pneumatomachy, promyshlennik or mischprache which were part of the world list championship round at the 89th Scripps National Spelling Bee held last year.
Yes, I am going to google the meaning of the above words as well!
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