text: Stella Kramrisch notes a different etymology connected with the adjectival form raudra, which means 'wild', i.e., of rude (untamed) nature, and translates the name Rudra as 'the wild one' or 'the fierce god'.  R. K. Śarmā follows this alternative etymology and translates the name as 'the terrible' in his glossary for the Shiva Sahasranama. Mallory and Adams also mention a comparison with the Old Russian deity Rŭglŭ to reconstruct a Proto-Indo-European wild-god named *Rudlos, though they remind that the issue of the etymology remains problematic: from PIE *reud- ('rend, tear apart'; cf. Latin rullus, 'rustic'), or *reu- ('howl').
  The commentator  suggests six possible derivations for rudra. However, another reference states that Sayana suggested ten derivations. The adjective śiva (shiva) in the sense of 'propitious' or 'kind' is first applied to the Rudra in RV 10.92.9.
  Rudra is called 'the archer' (Sanskrit: ) and the arrow is an essential attribute of Rudra. This name appears in the Shiva Sahasranama, and R. K. Śarmā notes that it is used as a name of Shiva often in later languages. The word is derived from the Sanskrit root - which means 'to injure' or 'to kill', and Śarmā uses that general sense in his interpretive translation of the name  as 'One who can kill the forces of darkness'. The names  ('bowman') and  ('archer', literally 'Armed with a hand-full of arrows') also refer to archery.
  In other contexts the word rudra can simply mean 'the number eleven'. The word rudraksha (Sanskrit:  = rudra and  'eye'), or 'eye of Rudra', is used as a name for both the berry of the rudraksha tree and a name for a string of the prayer beads made from those seeds.