A contracted form of bo/ac, a fish that makes such a noise; see LSJ s.v. The box is mentioned by Athenaeus (in Deipnosophists 7.286F-287B [7.27 Kaibel], citing Aristotle), as well as grammarians and lexicography. Adler reports a similar entry in the Ambrosian Lexicon. Ps.-Herodian, Etymologicum Magnum, and Etymologicum Genuinum gloss the word with ei)=dos i)xqu/os "a kind of fish."