Regarding The Origin and etomology of word Kashmir
origin of the name of Kashmir have been a center of historical and linguistic debate for centuries. And etomology of it's name is even till now been debated,let's dive into the rabbit hole.
Regarding the origin of the name kashmir have many theory lets take a look at them:-
Kashyapa theory:- this dosent need an introduction, This mystical story is from Nilmat Purana which was written in 7th century.
Kashmir - Dessiociated land, this theory originated from Nilmaya purana that Kashmira is from "Ka" and "Shemira" meaning Dryed up land. This theory has its own problems because there is no direct word in sanskrit for "drying" as "shmira".
Unandi sutra:- this text got importance in recent times. Unandi sutra was written on sanskrit grammer. Many historians across centuries commented on unandi and binding up all, we could conclude that from 4.30 to 4.32 it has reference to kashmira name etomology. it states that Kashmira means "a place worth visiting to" or " a place kings go to rule".
This another theory is that for Saffron sanskrit name is "Kashmira" so kashmir maybe got its name after saffron.
Now time for another version, this theory states that Kasiya was a name of a buddhist saint from whom kashmir got its name, so kashmira means Kasiya's garden.
Babur's theory:- Another one, it was propagated by babur. He said " a hill kingdom along himilayas is inhibited by a race of men called kas'" he also added that kashmir got its namen from this Kash/Kush tribe who were originally central asian. He said there are many places name after Kush across middle east, central asia and Himilayas like Hindu Kush, Koshmar in central asia, Kashmar,Kashi, Kashiya, Kashtwar etc.
Some people pointed out that Kash/Kush was the name of the son of Noah but this feels exaurated.
This theory states that kashmir which in local language is called as "Kasheir" originates from a Hebrew word meaning "Like syria". This theory is mostly propagated by the people who believe some lost tribes of isreal settled in Kashmir
Another theory says Kashmira is originated from Sanskrit word meaning "channels of water" or mountain, This theory needs further analysis
Another theory is that Kashmir gets it's name from the Himilayan tribe Khashas. There are many communities across himalayas in himachal, Uttarakhand and Nepal. Some believed before the arrival of Indo Aryans, Himalaya was inhibited by Alleged East Asian community called as Khas or Khasa, kind of similar compare to Babur's Hypothesis.
Another theory is that Kashmira is from a Sanskrit name meaning Lord's palace. This theory also need further research.
Now This theory is quite interesting, This theory was pointed out by some linguistics that Kashmir name might have old dardic roots like in shina/khowar it's "Kashir" ka in older dardic traditions means water and "ier" is associated with people. In kashmiri "Kashmir" is "kasheir". So acc to this theory Sanskrit might have bought the word from Burushaski/shina.
Now Last theory of our chapter links origin of Kashmir to Achemid Pre Islamic empire and messapotamia which is already too far fetched so skip this....
Articles
Unandi sutra
Wikipedia
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History\_of\_Kashmir
Who was kashyapa reshi
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashyapa
Hebrew theory;
Unandi sutra