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Beekes (2010) declares it to be a Pre-Greek Mediterranean substrate borrowing, comparing it with Hittite𒈠𒀀𒄴𒆷𒀸(māḫlaš, “grapevine”).
Kroonen (2016) reconstructs a Proto-Indo-European byform *smh₂l-, from which he also derives Hittite 𒊭𒈠𒇻(šamalu-), 𒊭𒄠𒇻(šamlu-) "apple". He also connects this IE form with Proto-Kartvelian *msxal-(“pear”) and proposes that the Indo-European words may have come from a metathesis of that Kartvelian word.
Fenwick (2016) also argues for an ultimate Indo-European origin, though with differing details, and views the Kartvelian term rather as an IE loan. She reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *méh₂lo-(“cultivated tree, cultivated vine”), with a variant *móh₂lo-(“id.”). This variant is visible in e.g. Hittite 𒈠𒀀𒄴𒆷𒀸(māḫlaš, “grapevine”), Lydian μῶλαξ(môlax, “type of wine”), and Armenian մոլ(mol, “sucker, runner, stolon”). She takes this variation as evidence of an earlier acrostatic root noun *móh₂l-(“type of culturally important plant”) - which got thematized later on - showing a range of other derived forms. She further treats *móh₂l- itself as a possible archaic *-l- deverbal noun from *meh₂-(“to grow, increase, mature, be fruitful”). She compares this development to that of *webʰl-(“weevil, beetle, worm”), which she derives from *webʰ-(“to weave”)).
^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “μῆλον”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 943-944
^ Kroonen, Guus (2016) “On the origin of Greek μῆλον, Latin mālum, Albanian mollë and Hittite šam(a)lu- ‘apple’”, in The Journal of Indo-European Studies, volume 44, pages 85-91
^ Fenwick, Rhona S. H. (2016) “Descendants and ancestry of a Proto-Indo-European phytonym *meh₂l-”, in The Journal of Indo-European Studies, volume 44, pages 441-456