melc.

Unknown. Possibly a substrate word, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *mel- (“soft, weak, tender”). Compare Breton melc’hwed (“snails”), Welsh malwod (“snails”), Latin mollis (“soft”), Old Armenian մեղկ (mełk, “soft, weak”). Another theory starts with the variant form melciu, which may possibly be derived from Serbian (i)mèla (“mistletoe”), with diminutive suffix -če and the meaning becoming "slimy, viscous". Other less likely ideas proposed include a substrate root *miliku or *kadmiliku, linked to Albanian kërmill (“snail”), këthmili, or from a Vulgar Latin *milax, metathetic modification of Latin limax (“slug, snail”), or a relation to the root of Latin murex, or a borrowing from Bulgarian мелък (melăk). See also culbec.