This is what the so-called "compact edition" of the Oxford English
Dictionary has to say, which is still printed in 20 volumes, in print so
tiny that a free 5x magnifier is included.
But it's also all digital these days, so easy to copy and paste.
(4th definition of "bee"):
In allusion to the social character of the insect (originally in U.S.): A
meeting of neighbours to unite their labours for the benefit of one of their
number; e.g. as is done still in some parts, when the farmers unite to get
in each other's harvests in succession; usually preceded by a word defining
the purpose of the meeting, as apple-bee, husking-bee, quilting-bee,
raising-bee, etc. Hence, with extended sense: A gathering or meeting for
some object; esp. spelling-bee, a party assembled to compete in the spelling
of words. lynching bee: see lynching n.
1769 Boston Gaz. 16 Oct. Last Thursday about twenty young Ladies met at
the house of Mr. L. on purpose for a Spinning Match; (or what is called in
the Country a Bee).
1830 J. Galt Lawrie Todd I. iii. v. 212 I made a bee; that is, I
collected as many of the most expert and able-bodied of the settlers to
assist at the raising.
1849 W. Irving Hist. N.Y. (rev. ed.) vii. ii. 390 Now were instituted
quilting bees and husking bees and other rural assemblages.
1864 C. M. Yonge Trial II. 281 She is gone out with Cousin Deborah to an
apple bee.
1876 J. Lubbock Elem. Educ. in Contemp. Rev. June 91 He may be
invincible at a spelling bee.
1884 Harper's Mag. Sept. 510/2 This execution,..in Idaho phrase was a
'hanging-bee.'
[end of OED definition]
What the OED does not mention is the Olde English word "bene"/"boon",
meaning "a blessing," or a "benefit". So, like a barn raising, where
neighbors help each other. This is the far more common etymology given in
the dictionaries printed in the colonies rather than Oxford, where one would
expect the Olde English roots to be given full credit at every turn. I am
not sure which is true, and I am not sure which etymology is superior.
So, it seems that the epistemology on etiology of the etymology of this
entomology-related term is fragile.
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