– Я покоряюсь вам, – призраки, оборотни,
пародии.
('I obey you, spectres, werewolves, parodies.' Invitation
to a Beheading, chapter 3)
Оборотень (werewolf) has тень (shade) in it.
oboroten' + mot = obormot + ten' + o
(oboroten' - werewolf; mot - Fr., word; obormot -
blockhead; ten' - shade; shadow)
In the popular epigram on Paolo Trubetskoy's equestarian
statue of Alexander III ("Hippopotamus") the tsar is called
"obormot":
Стоит комод,
на комоде бегемот,
на бегемоте обормот.
Alexey Sklyarenko