From Proto-Baltic *riež-, *raiž-, from earlier *reiž-, from Proto-Indo-European *rey- (“to scratch, to tear, to cut”) (whence also rieva (“wrinkle”), quod vide), with an extra element ǵ. The original meaning was probably “cut”, from which “piercing, stabbing pain” and then “worry, anxiety”. Cognates include Lithuanian ráižyti, raižýti (“to cut, to slice, to pierce”), Polish rznąć (“to cut”). A minority view suggests a different source for this word: Proto-Indo-European *wrēǵ- (“to break”) (with *ē → *ei → ai), whence also Lithuanian rė́žti (“to cut”), Russian ре́зать (rézatʹ, “to cut”).