Of honey, bee, mead, and Old Sinitic reconstructions

Pamela Kyle Crossley wonders:

Why, when mi– ma– words for “honey” are so widespread across Eurasia, do English speakers say “honey” instead of some modern form of medhu or meli (except when referring to mead, of course)? Turns out all the Germanic languages left the medhu theme early on, and instead went with variation of *hunaga, which they might originally have cut off from hunigcamb. It sort of suggests that these Germans first encountered honey as imported in combs or frames, not as if they were extracting it from the bees themselves.

At first glance, a PIE root for Germanic "bee" does not seem to be terribly secure:

Old English beo "bee," from Proto-Germanic *bion (source also of Old Norse by, Old High German bia, Middle Dutch bie), from PIE root *bhei- "bee."

[Etymonline]

A closer look indicates that "bee" cognates might extend beyond Germanic languages, but not very far:

From Middle English bee, from Old English bēo, from Proto-Germanic *bijō (compare West Frisian and Dutch bij, Upper German Beie, Danish and Swedish bi), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰi- (compare Old Irish bech (“bee”), Welsh bydaf (“beehive”), Latin fūcus (“drone”), Latvian bite (“bee”), Russian пчела́ (pčelá, “bee”)).

[Wiktionary]

Judging from this, "bee" belongs to the northwest sector of the Indo-European world.  See J. P. Mallory and D. Q. Adams, Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture (London and Chicago:  Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997), p. 57b.

Thus  a supposed PIE root for "bee" does not seem to be that assured, since all we have before the oldest Germanic form is Pokorny's conjectural bhei- 116

And what about "honey"?

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.

[Etymonline]

From Middle English hony, honi, from Old English huniġ, from Proto-Germanic *hunagą (compare West Frisian hunich, German Honig), from earlier *hunangą (compare Swedish honung), from pre-Germanic *kn̥h₂onkós, from Proto-Indo-European *kn̥h₂ónks (gen. *kn̥h₂kós) (compare Middle Welsh canecon (“gold”), Latin (pl.) canicae (“bran”), Tocharian B kronkśe (“bee”), Albanian qengjë (“beehive”), Ancient Greek κνῆκος (knêkos, “safflower”)), Kurdish şan (“beehive”).

[Wiktionary]

This does remind me of Sinitic huáng 黃 ("yellow"), Old Sinitic (OS) *N-kʷˁaŋ (Baxter-Sagart) / *ɡʷaːŋ (Zhengzhang).

Now I need to look more deeply into the intriguing name Huángdì 黃帝 ("Yellow Thearch"), one of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors of Chinese myth.

Examples

mì 蜜 ("honey"), OS *mit (Schuessler; Baxter-Sagart), cf. Minnan (Hokkien) bi̍t — From Proto-Tocharian *ḿət(ə), from Proto-Indo-European *médʰu (“mead”). Compare Tocharian B mit (“honey”).  [Wiktionary]

shānhú 珊瑚 ("coral") OS *slaːn  ɡaː (Zhengzhang) — Borrowed from an Iranian language in Central Asia during the Han Dynasty, probably Khotanese sam̥gga- (“stone”). Compare Modern Persian سنگ‎ (sang, “stone”).  [Wiktionary]

Readings

• “Of precious swords and Old Sinitic reconstructions” (3/8/16)
• “Of precious swords and Old Sinitic reconstructions, part 2” (3/12/16)
• “Of precious swords and Old Sinitic reconstructions, part 3” (3/16/16)
• “Of precious swords and Old Sinitic reconstructions, part 4” (3/24/16)
• "Of precious swords and Old Sinitic reconstructions, part 5" (3/28/16)
• "Of armaments and Old Sinitic reconstructions, part 6" (12/23/17)
• "Of shumai and Old Sinitic reconstructions" (7/19/16)
• "Of felt hats, feathers, macaroni, and weasels" (3/13/16)
• "Of dogs and Old Sinitic reconstructions" (3/17/18)
• "Eurasian eureka" (9/12/16)
• "Old Sinitic reconstructions and Tibeto-Burman cognates" (4/18/16
• "Of ganders, geese, and Old Sinitic reconstructions" (10/29/18)