Browsing through old ABJs this winter I came across a short excerpt from a book, “ A Journey in Greece” written by an Englishman named George Wheeler, Esquire (ABJ, July 1921).
 
George visited  Greece in 1675 and described the skep hives he found being used there at that time –  the skeps had a wide top, tapering to a narrower bottom, with slats across the top to act as the frame top bars – an early version of a top bar hive.

George described how honey was harvested in the fall without the use of smoke, writing :

“This is done without Smoak; wherefore the Antients call this Honey “Akapnison,” Unsmoaken Honey; and I believe the Smoak of Sulphur, which we use, takes away very much of the Fragrance of the Wax, and sure I am, the Honey can receive neither good Taste nor Smell from it.”

If there are any linguists out there I am curious to know if there is a word in some ancient language that means “unsmoken honey”. I tried to translate “Akapnison” using Google translate but couldn’t get anywhere.  And the word for “smoken honey” is??? Sulphuricious”?      

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