Editing Shaivism (section)

==Etymology and nomenclature==
Shiva ({{IAST|śiva}}, {{langx|sa|शिव}}) literally means kind, friendly, gracious, or auspicious.{{Sfn|Apte|1965|p=919}}<ref name="Macdonell, p. 314">Macdonell, p. 314.</ref> As a proper name, it means "The Auspicious One".<ref name="Macdonell, p. 314"/>

The word Shiva is used as an adjective in the [[Rig Veda]], as an epithet for several [[Rigvedic deities]], including [[Rudra]].{{sfn|Chakravarti|1994|p=28}} The term Shiva also connotes "liberation, final emancipation" and "the auspicious one", this adjective sense of usage is addressed to many deities in Vedic layers of literature.<ref name=mmwshiva>Monier Monier-Williams (1899), [http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia/ebooks/mw/1100/mw__1107.html Sanskrit to English Dictionary with Etymology] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170227192855/http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia/ebooks/mw/1100/mw__1107.html |date=27 February 2017 }}, Oxford University Press, pages 1074–1076</ref>{{sfn|Chakravarti|1994|p=21-22}} The term evolved from the Vedic ''Rudra-Shiva'' to the noun ''Shiva'' in the Epics and the Puranas, as an auspicious deity who is the "creator, reproducer and dissolver".<ref name=mmwshiva/>{{sfn|Chakravarti|1994|p=21-23}}

The Sanskrit word {{IAST|śaiva}} or {{Transliteration|sa|hunterian|shaiva}} means "relating to the god Shiva",{{Sfn|Apte|1965|p=927}} while the related beliefs, practices, history, literature and sub-traditions constitute Shaivism.{{sfn|Flood|1996| p= 149}}