What does the term ';spelling bee'; come from. is there a signifigance to the BEE? if so, Why?

In colonial days 1742 a young boy was spelling words for his father and it just so happened that the word he had trouble with was be. At the same instant a bee came down and bit the boy on the neck. Up until that point be and bee were both spelled bee. The boy when he arrived at the town apothacary told the druggist he was bitten by a spelling bee. His father was after that so afraid of bees that he had the word be (a very common word of the day) spelled be instead of bee.What does the term ';spelling bee'; come from. is there a signifigance to the BEE? if so, Why?
The etymology of the word ';bee'; is unclear. Historically, it has described a social congregation where a specific action is being carried out, like a husking bee, or an apple bee.





A spelling bee is a competition where contestants, usually children, are asked to spell English words. The practice originated in the United States and has since spread to elsewhere in the English-speaking world.What does the term ';spelling bee'; come from. is there a signifigance to the BEE? if so, Why?
';Quilting Bee'; - What's all the BUZZ about? IDK - See link below.
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).