Liddell-Scott-Jones

μέλισσα (melissa) bee ^G:N-M

μέλισσα,

Attic dialect μέλιττα, ης, ἡ, (perhaps by haplology for μελι-λιχ-yα 'honey-licker', cf. Sanskrit madhu-lih- (corresp. with Gr. Μεθυ-λιχ-) 'bee') bee, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; of wild bees, that live in rocks, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; of honey-bees, that live in hives, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; ὄνος ἐν μελίτταις 'a hornets' nest', [Refs 5th c.BC+]

__II the term μέλισσα was applied
__II.1 to poets, from their culling the beauties of nature, ἔνθεν ὡσπερεὶ μ. Φρύνιχος.. μελέων ἀπεβόσκετο καρπόν [Refs 5th c.BC+]; especially of Sophocles, [Refs 5th c.BC+]
__II.2 to the priestesses of Delphi, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; of Demeter and Artemis, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; of Cybele, [Refs 1st c.BC+]
__II.3 in Neo-Platonic Philos., any pure, chaste being, of souls coming to birth, [Refs 3rd c.AD+]; of the Moon,[Refs]
__III ={μέλι}, honey, ὕδατος, μελίσσης, μηδὲ προσφέρειν μέθυ [Refs 5th c.BC+]; of poetry, [Refs]; ἑσμὸς μελίσσης appears to be corrupt in [Refs 2nd c.BC+]
__IV ={ὀβολός}, [Refs 5th c.AD+]