honey     hunig

back to top

Medical:​​

• Genim ánne cuculere fulne ameredes huniges 'take a spoon-full of purified honey'

• Genim awylled hunig 'take boiled honey'

• Mintan wel getrifulade meng wið hunig wyrc to lytlum cliwene 'mint, well triturated, mixed with honey, work into a little ball' [triturate = grind to a fine powder]

• Celeþenian seáw gemeng wið dorena hunig 'celandine's juice mixed with dumbledores' honey'

• Genim ðæt séleste hunig 'take that exceptional honey'

• Gewyrc ðé l%cedóm ðus of ecede 7 of hunige 'make thee a healing-law thus from vinegar and from honey' (see oxymel)

• Englisces huniges 'of English honey'

• Geswét swíðe leóhtlíce mid hunige 'sweeten very lightly with honey'

• Mid ðý hunige smire . . . ne biþ sóna nán teóna 'with the honey smear . . . there be soon no hurt (from the disease)'

• Genim ðú huniges ánre yndsan gew%ge 'take thou of honey an ounce weight'

​

Etymology

Middle English hony, from Old English hunig "honey," from Proto-Germanic *hunang- (source also of Old Norse hunang, Swedish honung, Old Saxon honeg, Old Frisian hunig, Middle Dutch honich, Dutch honig, Old High German honang, German Honig "honey"), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from a PIE *k(e)neko- denoting yellow, golden, or brownish colors (compare Sanskrit kancan- "golden," Welsh canecon "gold," Greek knēkos "yellowish"), or perhaps from a substratum word. Finnish hunaja is a Germanic loan-word.

​

The more common Indo-European word is represented in Germanic by the Gothic word for "honey," miliþ (from PIE root *melit- "honey").

​

Notes:​

• "The keeping of bees was an object of much care in the economy of the Anglo-Saxons. The great variety of expressions, taken from the flavour of honey, sufficiently account for the value they placed upon it. While the bee-masters [beó-ceorlas, v. beó-ceorl] enjoyed their own privileges, they had to pay an especial tax for the keeping of bees" Bosworth Toller dictionary

• "Bee bread is a mixture of pollen and nectar or honey. This substance is the main source of food for honey bee workers and larvae. The exact composition of the bee bread varies depending on the plants that the bees forage from. This not only changes at different locations but also with the seasons and even at different times of the day." Amateur Entomologists' Society

​

Literary:​

• Ða beón beraþ árlícne anleofan hafaþ hunig on múþe wynsume wist 'the bees produce delicious food, - have honey in the mouth, a pleasant food'

• Be ðám ðe beón bewitaþ. Beóceorle gebyreþ, gif he gafolheorde healt, ðæt he sylle ðonne lande gerd beó. Mid us is gerd ðæt he sylle v sustras huniges to gafole 'concerning those who keep bees. It behoves a keeper of bees, if he hold a taxable hive [stock of bees], that he then shall pay to the country what shall be agreed. With us it is agreed that he shall pay five sustras of honey for a tax'

• beór - a beverage made of honey and water (mead, metheglin or hydromel)

• camb - a comb, an assemblage of cells in which bees store their honey

• Ic heó gefreóge écelíce ðæs gafoles ðe hió nú get to cyninges handa ageofan sceolan of ðam d%le ðe ð%r ungefreód to láfe wæs ðære cyningfeorme ge on hlutrum alaþ ge on beóre ge on hunige ge hryðrum ge on swýnum ge on sceápum 'I free them for ever from the impost which they have still to pay into the king's hand, from that portion, which was there left unfreed of the royal purveyance, whether in pure ale, or in beer, or in honey, or in oxen, or in swine, or in sheep'

• Mon sceal sellan to fóstre x fata hunies 'one shall give, as provisions, ten vats of honey'

• ge-miildscad - mixed with honey

• Ic eom on góman swétra ðonne ðú beóbreád blende mid hunige 'I am on the palate sweeter than if thou bee-bread blended with honey'

• Swá þicce swá huniges tear 'as thick as honey's tear/virgin honey'

• hunig-flówende - flowing with honey

• hunig-gafol - 'honey tax', rent paid in honey

• hunig-smæc - 'honey-smack', taste or flavour of honey

• hunig-sw%s - 'honey-as', like honey

• Hé hlód ðá mid þurstigum breóste ða flówendan láre ðe hé eft æfter fyrste mid hunigswéttre þrotan bealcette ''

• hunig-teár - virgin honey

• medu - mead, a drink made from honey

• Se gegilda ðe ne geséce his morgensp%ce gilde his syster huniges 'the [member of a guild], who does not attend [the assembly of the guild], fine of a sester of honey'

• wudu-hunig - 'wood honey', aka wild honey

• gafol-heord - a swarm of bees rented from the lord, the rent (gafol) being paid in honey

• hunig-æppel - 'honey-apple', glossed from Latin pastellus, a lozenge or pastille containing honey

• hunig-b%re - 'honey-bearing', used of flowers

• hunig-binn - 'honey-bin', a container for honey

​

Species and Find sites:​

• ​

​