Abstract
The article deals with three mythonyms that are represented in Russian dialects of the north and east of the Kostroma region – казúм, кажимóт, ве(и)дéнье [kazím, kazhimót, ve(i)dénye]. These words are introduced into the linguistic turnover for the first time, as they are not recorded in the main dialect dictionaries of the Russian language and were recorded mainly in the field. Mythonyms have overlapping sets of features, which helps to carry out semantic-motivational reconstruction of lexemes and etymologisation of the ‘dark’ word казим. The mythonym веденье is based on the calendar sign (the character punishes for insufficient amount of spun out yarn by Vvedeniye, 4.XII); the word кажимот reflects the formula Кажи моты [Kazhi moty – show the skeins of yarn], designed to control the volume of spun out yarn; the lexeme казим is formed from the verb казить ‘to wonder, to seem; to spoil; to mischief’ and realises most likely the perceptual sign of the character's ‘seeming’, which is also the basis of the folk-etymological reinterpretation of the word виденье.