4 ms·
Bees to this day are very respected in Lithuania. A very close friend can be being called "Bičiulis" which is derived from a word bee. As in "bee honey" = "Biči
by vilius 5y ago
Bees to this day are very respected in Lithuania. A very close friend can be being called "Bičiulis" which is derived from a word bee. As in "bee honey" = "Bičių medus". For english speakers the pronunciation can sound a bit contraindicative ʙɪᴛᴄʜ-ᴜʟɪs
- davidw 5y agoLooks like 'medus' and 'mead' have the same root, offhand?
- sanqui 5y agoIndeed. And the Lithuanian word for 'bee', bitė, is also cognate with the English word as per Wiktionary[1]. [1] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bit%C4%97#Lithuanian https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bit%C4%97#Lithuanian
- riffraff 5y agoThe proto-balto-slavic root for honey is "med", which is why the word for bear is usually some variation of "medved", meaning "honey eater", due to that weird process where something scary becomes taboo and gets replaces with some phrase. https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/medv%C4%9Bd%D1%8C https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic...
- flixic 5y agoThe name wasn’t based on bees just because bees are respected. “Bičiulystė” (meaning friendship, using the same word Bičiulis) was usually a neighbor friendship with a particular purpose: to take care of bees communally.