melc

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch miluk, from Proto-Germanic *meluks, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂melǵ-.

Noun

melc f or n

1. milk

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Descendants

• Dutch: melk
  • Afrikaans: melk
  • Berbice Creole Dutch: meleke
  • Jersey Dutch: määlk
  • Negerhollands: melk
  • → Aukan: meliki
  • → Caribbean Javanese: mèleg, mèrki
  • → Munsee: mălák
  • → Saramaccan: meíki
  • → Sranan Tongo: merki
    • → Kari'na: meliki
  • → Tok Pisin: melek
• Limburgish: mèlk

Further reading

• “melc (I)”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “melc (I)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page I

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Romanian

Etymology

Uncertain. Possibly a substrate word from Dacian, 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 (melǎk). See also culbec.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /melk/

Noun

melc m (plural melci)

1. snail, slug

Declension

Declension of melc

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) melc	melcul	(niște) melci	melcii
genitive/dative	(unui) melc	melcului	(unor) melci	melcilor
vocative	melcule		melcilor

Synonyms

• culbec, bourel (regional)

See also

• limax