Ze staročeského slovníku: Klaretův oměk nebo úmek

The main aim of the article is to reconstruct the form and meaning of the Old Czech equivalent of the Latin term molus preserved in the manuscript of Claretus’ Glossarius in the chapter De piscibus in two forms, vmek and omek. Two different interpretations are possible. They are based on a description of the fishes mulus and mullus, both identified with some uncertainty as a mullet by modern scholars, in the encyclopaedia Liber de natura rerum of Thomas of Cantimpre, a main source for Claretus, as far as zoological terms, especially fish names, are concerned. The first interpretation is based on the Medieval etymology of Isidorus of Sevilla, that mullus is allegedly derived from the Latin adjective mollis “soft”, thus Claretus in all probability connected it with Old Czech měkky “soft”and created the new word oměk with the secondary form uměk. The second interpretation is inspired by the sliding movement of a mullet on the seabed, where a mullet can find seaweed, bivalves, and mud (the description of the food of the mullet comes from Pliny the Elder). The Old Czech umek with the secondary form omek is identified as a derivative of the unpreserved verb *umknuti, which belongs to the Slavonic verbal family mъčati, (s)mъkno˛ti, (s)mykati “to slide, to move fast or suddenly”.