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submitted 5 months ago by pelletbucket@lemm.ee to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

like what if the first person to coin the phrase, for the one bee that lays around just producing offspring, lived in a world that had no monarchies? or, were radically opposed to the concept.

also what do you think we would name them today if we just found them?

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[-] RobotToaster@mander.xyz 48 points 5 months ago

In Old English it's "beomodor", literally "bee mother"

[-] pelletbucket@lemm.ee 11 points 5 months ago

that's some good shit

[-] MeetInPotatoes@lemmy.ml 10 points 5 months ago

One does not simply walk into beomodor.

[-] RedditRefugee69@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago

Does that mean Beowulf means bee wolf in old English?

[-] RobotToaster@mander.xyz 2 points 4 months ago

Yes, or perhaps less literally "bee hunter", it was used as euphemism for a bear. There's some theories that saying the actual word for bear was taboo (some theories say that people believed saying it's name could attract one), so they used euphemisms like that, or "the brown one", bero, which is where the English word "bear" comes from.

[-] RedditRefugee69@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago

Now that just makes me curious as hell about the original work for bear. Maybe something more similar to the Latin “ursa”?

this post was submitted on 06 Jun 2024
36 points (100.0% liked)

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