мелче

Etymology

By surface analysis, *melь (*melʹ) + -че (-če, diminutive suffix). Related to Romanian melc (“snail”), with no direct cognates in other Slavic languages: * Mladenov: Akin to Proto-Slavic *(s)mъlžь (“mollusc”). * Georgiev (БЕР): Semantically parallel to dial. пасоче (pasoče) < па- (pa-) + сок (sok, “juice”) + -е (-e), слимак (slimak) < Proto-Slavic *slima (“slime”) + -ак (-ak). * Duvernois: Borrowed from Romanian or together with the Romanian lemma - inherited from a Paleo-Balkan substrate. In either case, probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mel- (“meek, tender, soft”) (attested e.g. in Old Armenian մեղկ (mełk, “soft”)).