бухер

Technically reflecting Proto-Slavic *buxyrъ, probably with original meaning bulged, bloated creature. If correct, then derived from бу́хвам (búhvam, “to bulge, to bloat, to tumefy”) +‎ -ер (-er).

Alternatively, modified from dialectal Bulgarian бу́га (búga, “bull”) (of Turkic origin) + -ер (-er) due to the horn-like eye tentacles of snails. Compare the folk epithets ро́глец (róglec), ро́жковец (róžkovec, “gastropod”) from Bulgarian рог (rog, “horn”).

• IPA^(key):

• Audio:

  (file)

бу́хер • (búher) m (diminutive бо́хльо)

1. (dialectal) gastropod

   Synonyms: (dialectal) пи́жек (pížek), (dialectal) пасо́к (pasók), (archaic) слима́к (slimák)

   зъ́мски бу́хер ― zǎ́mski búher ― slug (literally, “serpentine gastropod)”)

   черу́пест бу́хер ― čerúpest búher ― snail (literally, “shelled gastropod)”)

2. (by specification) snail

   Synonym: о́хлюв (óhljuv)

• бу́хир (búhir)
• бу́ер (búer) — colloquial pronunciation, with silent medial -х-

• о́хльо-бо́хльо (óhljo-bóhljo) (alias for gastropods in children's tales)

• бу́хав (búhav, “swollen, bulged; rippen (for fruits)”)
• бухти́ца (buhtíca, “bindweed”) (dialectal)
• набу́хвател (nabúhvatel, “leaven (for dough)”)
• търбу́х (tǎrbúh, “rumen, belly”) (< *trь- (“tri-”) + *buxъ (“bulge”))

• “бухер”, in Речник на българския език [Dictionary of the Bulgarian Language] (in Bulgarian), Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 2014
• Georgiev, Vladimir I., editor (1971), “бухер, буер”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volume 1 (А – З), Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Pubg. House, →ISBN, page 94
• Nayden Gerov (1895) “бу́хыръ”, in Рѣчникъ на Блъгарскꙑй язꙑкъ. Съ тлъкувание рѣчи-тꙑ на Блъгарскꙑ и на Русскꙑ. [Dictionary of the Bulgarian language]‎ (in Bulgarian), volume 1, Plovdiv: Дружествена печꙗтница "Съгласие.", page 88