रक्षस्

From Proto-Indo-Iranian *(H)ráćšas, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂rétḱ-os (“destruction”), with secure cognates only within Indo-Iranian. Cognate with Avestan 𐬭𐬀𐬱𐬀𐬵 (rašah), Persian رشیدن (rašīdan, “to pour out, spill, shed”). The traditional comparison with Ancient Greek ἐρέχθω (erékhthō, “to rend, jerk, break”) is rejected by Mayrhofer and Lubotsky, among others, for formal and semantic reasons.^[1][2]

Folk etymologies in Hindu texts attempt to tie the sense "demon" to the root रक्ष् (rakṣ, “to protect”), as demons are supposed to be warded off using religious incantations or rituals.

• (Vedic) IPA^(key): /ɾɐ́k.ʂɐs/
• (Classical Sanskrit) IPA^(key): /ˈɾɐk.ʂɐs̪/

रक्षस् • (rákṣas) stem, n

1. harm, injury, damage
   • c. 1700 BCE – 1200 BCE, Ṛgveda

• Pali: rakkha

रक्षस् • (rákṣas or rakṣás) stem, m or n

1. an evil being; a demon, fiend, monster
   • c. 1700 BCE – 1200 BCE, Ṛgveda 5.83.2:

     वि वृक्षान्हन्त्युत हन्ति रक्षसो विश्वं बिभाय भुवनं महावधात् ।

     vi vṛkṣānhantyuta hanti rakṣaso viśvaṃ bibhāya bhuvanaṃ mahāvadhāt.

     He smites the trees apart, he slays the demons: all life fears him who wields the mighty weapon.

• राक्षस (rākṣasa)

• Pali: rakkha
• Marathi: लांस (lāusa)

• Monier Williams (1899) “रक्षस्”, in A Sanskrit–English Dictionary, , new edition, Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 860/1.