Great analogy.
The language still contains medieval usages. Something like "A tui menya naKARkal" = "You jinxed me!" is basically crow/raven language ( "karrr, karrr....") and not Russian, and arises because humans cannot pronounce real curses (according to Russian custom) so that a wizard (volshebnik) wishing to put a serious curse on somebody would need to have his pet raven pronounce the curse (or jinx).
Cute, huh?