"For a Swarm of Bees" is an Anglo-Saxon metrical charm that was intended for use in keeping honey bees from swarming. The text was discovered by John Mitchell Kemble in the 19th century.[1] The charm is named for its opening words, "wiþ ymbe", meaning "against (or towards) a swarm of bees".[2]
In the most often studied portion, towards the end of the text where the charm itself is located, the bees are referred to as sigewif, "victory-women". The word has been associated by Kemble,[1] Jacob Grimm, and other scholars with the notion of valkyries (Old English wælcyrian), and "shield maidens", hosts of female beings attested in Old Norse and, to a lesser extent, Old English sources, similar to or identical with the Idise of the Merseburg Incantations.[3] Some scholars have theorized the compound to be a simple metaphor for the "victorious sword" (the stinging) of the bees.[4]
In 1909, the scholar Felix Grendon recorded what he saw as similarities between the charm and the Lorsch Bee Blessing, a manuscript portion of the Lorsch Codex, from the monastery in Lorsch, Germany. Grendon suggested that the two could possibly have a common origin in pre-Christian Germanic culture.[5]
^ abKemble (1876), pp. 403–404.
^Bosworth & Toller (1889–1921).
^Davidson (1990), p. 63.
^Greenfield & Calder (1996), p. 256.
^Grendon (1909).
and 22 Related for: For a Swarm of Bees information
although bees do not typically sting while swarming. Africanized bees are more dangerous than other bees and are more widely feared. Relative to other bees, they...
the Anglo-Saxon and apparently pagan "ForaSwarmofBees" (Old English "wiþ ymbe") magic charm. It may reflect a common pre-Christian Germanic cultural...
When honey bees emerge from a hive to form aswarm, they may gather on a branch ofa tree or on a bush only a few meters from the hive. The bees cluster...
Africanized honey bees, as opposed to other Western bee types: Tend to swarm more frequently and go farther than other types of honey bees. Are more likely...
is usually the mother of most, if not all, of the bees in the beehive. Queens are developed from larvae selected by worker bees and specially fed in order...
Mesolithic period, and as a result humans' relationship with bees—particularly honey bees—has ranged from encounters with wild bees (both prehistorically...
maintenance ofbee colonies, commonly in man-made beehives. Honey bees in the genus Apis are the most commonly kept species but other honey producing bees such...
colony consists of three groups ofbees: employed bees, onlookers and scouts. It is assumed that there is only one artificial employed beefor each food source...
Hornets players and executives, Hugo the Hornet, the Honey Bees (cheerleading for the Hornets), Swarm Squad, and special guests. On July 25, 2016, the Charlotte...
After bees spread naturally throughout Africa and Eurasia, humans became responsible for the current cosmopolitan distribution of honey bees, introducing...
equipment. The bees are free to forage or leave (swarm) as they desire. Bees usually return to the beekeeper's hive as the hive presents a clean, dark,...
Swarm Technologies, Inc. is a company building a low Earth orbit satellite constellation for communications with Internet of things (IoT) devices using...
cerumen structures of the attacked swarm. These bees are popularly known as "robber bees". In Africa, similar behavior is observed in beesof the genus Cleptotrigona...
Australian. The tin bears a picture of the rotting carcass ofa lion with aswarmofbees and the advertising slogan "Out of the strong came forth sweetness"...
honey bee or European honey bee (Apis mellifera) is the most common of the 7–12 species of honey bees worldwide. The genus name Apis is Latin for "bee", and...
Parks, Paul Hecht, Gretchen Corbett, and Horst Buchholz. It follows aswarmof killer bees threatening people during Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Ben Johnson...
Unlike a bumble bee colony or a paper wasp colony, the life ofa honey bee colony is perennial. The three types of honey bees in a hive are: queens (egg-producers)...
despite not having nectar for the bees to collect, instead releasing pheromones used to orient forager bees returning to the hive as a deception tactic in order...
tropical regions. Italian bees that originate from the Ligurian alps in northern Italy are often referred to as the Ligurian bee, which is claimed only survives...