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what would a queen bee be called if queens never existed? (lemm.ee)

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

35 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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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[–] RedditRefugee69@lemmy.world 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Does that mean Beowulf means bee wolf in old English?

[–] RobotToaster@mander.xyz 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

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 5 months ago

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