Origin of Species a bit over the head of Norman Wisdom (8)
I believe the answer is:
sapience
'wisdom' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'origin of species a bit over the head of norman' is the wordplay.
'origin of' says to take the initial letters.
'a bit' becomes 'apiece' (synonyms).
'over' indicates putting letters inside.
'the head of' says to take the initial letters.
The initial letter of 'species' is 's'.
The initial letter of 'norman' is 'n'.
'apiece' going around 'n' is 'apience'.
's'+'apience'='SAPIENCE'
(Other definitions for sapience that I've seen before include "Pine case holds literary wisdom" , "Ace pines for wisdom" , "Discernment" .)