User:Chaipau/Assam etymology

In the classical period and up to the 12th century the region east of the Karatoya river, largely congruent to present-day Assam, was called Kamarupa, and alternatively, Pragjyotisha. But the region owes its current name to Shan invaders who established the Ahom kingdom in the 13th century and ruled for nearly 600 years. Though association of the name with the Shan invaders is widely accepted the precise origin of the name is not clear. When asked by the English about the name, the learned natives at that time were unsure and suggested the Sanskrit word Asama ("unequalled", "peerless", etc) as the root, which has been rejected by Gait as well as Kakati. and it is now accepted that it is a later Sanskritization of a native name. Among possible origins are Tai (A-Cham) and Bodo (Ha-Sam)

The early name was spelled variously as Asam, Acam, Asam, etc in the native alphabet. Among the 16th century uses, Sankardeva used Asam (অসম) to denote the Ahom community, whereas Abu-Fazl in Ain-I-Akbari used Asham (آشام) to denote the country. That the same name has been used to denote the community (by Sankardeva, Daityari Thakur, Darrang Rajvamshawali etc), as well as the kingdom (by Abu-Fazl, Mirza Nathan, Shahibuddin Talish) has been noted. The first use among Europeans is available from the 17th century: Assam (Dutch), Acham (English) and Assen (French). The English for some time used Asam, with a single 's', but very soon all European langauges with Latin-based alphabets began using the current spelling "Assam", whereas the natives of the region call it Asama (in Assamese).

Among early mentions, Sankardev's Bhagavata, as well as Abu-Fazl's Ain-i-Akbari both from the 16th century are remarkable. Sankardeva, Daityari Thakur, and the Darang Rajvamshavali used the name to describe the Tai community, whereas the Abu-Fazl, Mirza Nathan, Shahibuddin Talish used the name to describe the kingdom. The Europeans picked up the name in the 17th century initially as Assam (Dutch), Acham (English), Assen (French), which soon settled on the modern spelling "Assam". When the British occupied the Ahom kingdom it continued to use the name Assam to denote the region. Adjoining regions were added to it and the British Province, and subsequently the Indian state continued came to be known as Assam. With the broadening definition of the name Assam, the Tai community began to be called Ahom (which had the same root as Assam did), and the medieval kingdom began to be called Ahom kingdom and not Kingdom of Assam.