ON THE ETYMOLOGY OF SEVERAL DIALECTICISMS FROM KOSTROMA REGION

The article consists of three parts. The fi rst part examines the etymology of the Kostroma dialect word prózer ‘spine’. Its derivation from the verb *prozьrěti ‘see’ is obvious, but the motivation behind the name remains unclear. Since Russian pozvonochnik ‘spine’ is derived from pozvonok ‘verterbra’ and pozvonok comes from zvono/zveno ‘link’, it is probable that prózer originally meant ‘vertebra / link’. Thus the motivation for prózer is reconstructed as ‘transparent spot = opening’, which supports the previously proposed etymology of Slavic *zveno < Indo-European *gh’еṷ- ‘gape’.
The second part focuses on the origin of the Kostroma dialect word khorovéj ‘rime’. Its probable connection with the dialectal khorovityj ‘beautiful, well-built, handsome’ suggests that both words derive from the adjective *xorovъ(jь), related to khorovina, and ultimately going back to *sker- ‘to cut’.
The third part analyses the Kostroma dialect words sálicy ‘beams under the roof ridge’ and ssálit’ ‘to plane down, shave off ’. Both are traced to sálo ‘lard’, with its motivational semantics of ‘something connected with sediment or surface coating’.