Toponymy [edit] The word Nepal is first attested in the Atharvaveda Parisista (c. 1978).

"Nepal" was derived from the Sanskrit nipalaya, which means "at the foot of the mountai ns" or "abode at the foot", a reference to its location in relation to the Himal ayas. Thus, it may be an Eastern equivalent of the European toponym "Piedmont." Other, folk etymologies include:

It has been suggested that the name comes from the Tibetan niyampal, which m eans "holy land". A third theory suggests that Nepal came from compounding the words NE, which means wool, and PAL, which means a tented house; a long time ago, Nepal used to produce a lot of wool and the houses were used to store the woolhence the word N E-PAL. The name Nepal is also supposed to be derived from the Sanskrit word "NEP"( ), w ith the suffix "AL" ( ) added to it; though still under controversy, NEP were the p eople who used to be cow herdersthe GOPALS ( )who came to the Nepal valley for the firs time from the Ganges plain of India. According to Nepali scholar Rishikesh Shaha, the ancient chronicles report t hat a sage (muni) named Ne became the protector (pla) of this land and the founde r of its first ruling dynasty. The name of the country, Ne-pla, therefore origina lly meant the land 'protected by Ne.'[