Though the precise Etymology of Assam, a state in India is unclear—there is general agreement that it is related to the Ahom people."Ahoms also gave Assam and its language their name (Ahom and the modern ɒχɒm 'Assam' come from an attested earlier form asam, acam, probably from a Burmese corruption of the word Shan/Shyam, cf. Siam: Kakati 1962; 1-4)." Whatever the source of the English name, Assam is itself an anglicization.Das, Bhuban Mohan (1987) "The Peoples of Assam" p23 "The modern name Assam is an anglicised form of the Assamese name Asom"
Scholarly views John Peter Wade (1805) called the Ahom kingdom, that commenced on the Konder Chokey, "Kingdom of Assam"."The Kingdom of Assam, where it is entered from Bengal, commences on the north of the Berhampooter, at the Khonder Chokey, nearly opposite to the picturesque estate of the late Mr Raush at Goalpara; and at the Nagrabaree Hill on the South", Wade, Dr John Peter, (1805) "A Geographical Sketch of Assam" in Asiatic Annual Register, reprinted Some have speculated that the Bodo word "Ha-sham" meaning land of Tai people while other speculate the Bodo word "Ha-com" meaning low land was Sanskritised to 'Asama', dating its origin to at least first millennium common era.Subir Ghosh, Frontier travails: Northeast, the politics of a mess, 2001, Page 20 the word may have been borrowed from a Boro formation like Ha-som, meaning low land. If this derivation is correct, the name Asama may go back to a period long before the coming of the Shans/Ahoms. It appears, therefore, reasonable to suggest that the Sanskrit formation, Asama, is based on Ha-com While some believe the name Asama is a Sanskrit originated word which means unparalleled because of its unequal terrain with hills interspersed with valleysSujata Miri, Communalism in Assam: a civilizational approach, 1993, Page 31 It is said to be an anglicised version of the Sanskrit word "Asama" meaning "unparalleled" because of its unequal terrain with hills interspersed with valleys."
Banikanta Kakati quotes Grierson in Linguistic Survey of India that "While the Shan called themselves Tai, they came to be referred to as Āsām, Āsam and sometimes as Acam by the indigenous people of the country. The modern Assamese word Āhom by which the Tai people are known is derived from Āsām or Āsam. The epithet applied to the Shan conquerors was subsequently transferred to the country over which they ruled and thus the name Kāmarūpa was replaced by Āsām, which ultimately took the Sanskritized form Asama, meaning "unequalled, peerless or uneven" Satyendranath Sarma repeats this derivation while quoting Kakati." Colin Masica too endorses this view.
Satyendra Nath Sarma writes "Assamese is the easternmost Indo-Aryan language of India, spoken by nearly eight millions of people inhabiting mostly the Brahmaputra valley of Assam. The word Assamese is an English formation built on the same principle as Simhalese or Canarese etc. It is based on the English word Assam by which the British rulers referred to the tract covered by the Brahmaputra valley and its adjoining areas. But the people call their country Asama and their language Asamiya". Satyendranath Sarma, 1976
Early names Kamarupa The earliest epigraphic mention of the Assam region comes from Samudragupta's Allahabad stone pillar from the fourth century CE, where it is called Kamarupa. The pillar lists the frontier kingdoms (pratyanta nripati) and lists Kamarupa (Western Assam) along with Davaka, a region in the central Assam (undivided Nagaon district). Therefore, during the fourth century, the eastern boundary of the Kamarupa did not extend beyond west Assam. The Kalika Purana (10th century) and the Yogini Tantra (16th/17th century) refer to Kamarupa as a kingdom from Karatoya in the west to Dikkaravasini in the east. Dikkaravasini is identified with present-day Sadiya. The copper-plate inscription from Vaidyadeva calls Kamarupa a mandala within his own kingdom. Later epigraphic sources from Assam call the kingdom Pragjyotisha-Kamarupa. In the early twelfth century, epigraphic sources from the Pala dynasty mention Kamarupa as a mandala of the kingdom they ruled. The invasion of western Assam by Allauddin Hussein of Gaur up to Barnadi river in 1498 is recorded in coins from the early sixteenth century, declaring Hussein as the conqueror of Kamru (Kamrup) (and not Assam). The Kamarupa kings called themselves the Maharajadhiraja of Pragjyotisha. One of the kings Vaidyadeva, referred to Pragjyotisha as a bhukti and Kamarupa as a mandala (a smaller division, possibly within Pragjyotisha).
Asam and variations Assam, Asam and other variations started appearing in relatively recent times, and their uses cannot be attributed to any period earlier than the sixteenth century, and is associated with the Shan invaders."The word Assam was connected with th!' Shan invaders of the Brahmaputra Valley" The names appeared primarily in three different scripts: the Assamese, Persian and the Roman scripts. The sixteenth century is the period when Srimanta Sankardeva established his Ekasarana Dharma. This was accompanied by a profusive production in literature. At the same time, Vishwa Singha established the Koch kingdom in the west and the Ahom kingdom saw both a rapid expansion in territory and an increasing Hindu and Assamese influence in its court under Suhungmung. This increased prominence of the Ahom kingdom brought it to the attention of those outside the Brahmaputra valley.
Name Source Period Refer to Asama Bhagavata of Sankadeva early 16th century Ahom community"The Ahoms are here (Bhagavata II v 474) referred to as 'Asama'" Asama Darrangraj Vamshavali 16th century Ahom community"In Darrang Rāj Vaṃśabali, a chronicle of the Koch kings by Sũryya Khari Daibajña composed in the sixteenth century, the word Āsām has all through been employed as a term of reference to the conquering Shans." Asham Ain-i-Akbari late 16th century Ahom kingdom Āsām, Āsam, Asam Sankar-carit 17th century Ahom communityIn Sankar Carit, by Daityari Thakur of the seventeenth century, the Shans have been variously designated as Āsām, Āsam, Asam. Assam Joh van Leenen 1661 Ahom kingdom Aſem John Baptiste Tavernier 1678 Ahom kingdom Acham A Geographical Account of Countries around Bay of Bengal c1679 Ahom kingdom Acamakshara CP grant of Rajeswar Singha 1764 Ahom script Asamkshara CP grant of Lakshmi Singha 1773 Ahom script Assam "A Geographical Sketch of Assam" 1805 Ahom kingdom Assam Treaty of Yandabo 1826 North East India (Minus Tripura and Manipur)
Local forms Locally, Vaishnavite writers and biographers used different forms of the name indiscriminately (e.g. Āsām, Āsam, Asam) to refer to the Ahom community. The earliest mention of Asama is found in the Assamese Bhagavat of Sankardeva, which was composed in early sixteenth century."Sankardeva, in one of his verses, composed in the early sixteenth century, while referring to the castes and communities of the then Assam used the term Axom to mean the Ahom." The relevant stanzaSrimandbhagavat, skandha 2, H Dattabaruah and Co., Nalbari, pp-38 is (in iTrans): kiraTa kachhaari khaachi gaaro miri yavana ka~Nka govaala | asama maluka"The Ahoms are here referred to as 'Asama'...The term 'Maluk' remains unidentified unless we take it to mean the variety of tribes in the north-eastern part of the country." dhobaa ye turuka kubaacha mlechchha chaNDaala || The Ahoms were called Asam in the eighteenth century Darrangraj Vamshavali of Suryya Khari Daibajna; variously as Āsām, Āsam, and Asam in the seventeenth century Shankar-carit of Daityari Thakur; and Acam in Kamrupar Buranji. According to a count provided by , the Kamrupar Buranji names the country some thirty times, of which Āsām was used three times, Ācam was used three times, and Ācām was used for the rest, though in other Buranjis other spellings are also seen.. (The page numbering in this section follows an archaic Assamese numeral.) Furthermore, Bhuyan mentions that though both "" (s) and "" (c) have been used in the name, it is likely that it was pronounced mostly with .. (The page numbering in this section follows an archaic Assamese numeral.)
The name asama (as well as acam, asam, asam, asam) was used in the form asamakshara to denote the Ahom script in Sanskrit-Ahom bilingual copper plate grants of the Ahom kings.In general these copper plates have inscriptions in Sanskrit on one side and in the Ahom language on the other. At the end of the Sanskrit side of the plate, there would be a reference to look on the other side for the same text in Ahom script (asamaksara). For example, etadartha-vijnapakam-acamaksarena-paraprasthe (the same meaning is carried by what is rendered in acamaksarena on the other page); etadarthakam-asamksaram-etad-apara-prstha (to get this meaning in asamksara, it is there on the other page)
+Local Forms in the Buranjis Local Form In Kamrupar Buranji 24 3 3 0 0 0
Mughal forms As opposed to the local uses, where Asam and similar formations were used to denote the Ahom community, external sources used variations of Asam to denote the kingdom ruled by the Ahoms. The Ain-I-Akbari of the sixteenth century uses the form Asham (آشام) to denote the Ahom kingdom."The dominions of the rajah of Asham [] join to Kaumvrou:" Ain-i-Akbari. Note that the 1777 translation of the Ain-i-Akbari uses the long s in place of "s" in "Asham" The official chronicler of Mir Jumla also calls the place "Asam".The Indian Antiquary, July 1887, pp222-226
European forms The earliest Europeans who came in contact with Assam (and who had the opportunity to write the name in the Latin script), were travelers who went to Bengal and adventurers who accompanied military expeditions against the Ahom kingdom; these groups used variations of the name Asam to denote the kingdom. In a map of "Kingdom of Bengale", drawn by Joh. van Leenen around 1661 and published around 1662, Assam was clearly named and correctly identified."Vervarelijke Schipbreuk Van't Oostindisch Jacht Terschilling", January 1944, W. de Haan NV, Utrecht. The map. One of the first unambiguous references comes from Thomas Bowrey in 1663 about Mir Jumla's death: "They lost the best of Nabobs, the Kingdome of Acham, and, by consequence, many large privileges".Bowrey, Thomas, A Geographical Account of Countries around Bay of Bengal, ed Temple, R. C., Hakluyt Society's Publications Though Bowrey wrote his manuscript in the 17th century, the manuscript itself was published for the first time in the 20th century. On the other hand, Jean-Baptiste Tavernier's Travels in India, published in 1676 uses the spelling "Assem" for Assam in the French original (Aſem in the English translation, published in 1678)."Of the Kingdom of Aſem", Book III, Chapter XVII Thus the earliest English use of the name was "Aſem", with a Long s.
Colonialists then followed these travelers and adventurers. Both Grierson and Gait agree that the British used Asam before finally settling on Assam."...in the early dates of British rule, it (Assam) was spelled with only one 's'". In various documents of the British East India Company relating to the last few Ahom kings, the name of country was mentioned as Assam. The 1826 Treaty of Yandabo, marking the conquest of the Ahom kingdom at the hands of the British, uses Assam to denote the area under the erstwhile Ahoms and its protectorates (Darrang Koch, Jaintias, Kacharis and some hill areas in the present Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland).
After the British took control of the region, the name Assam was extended to the province that was then much larger than the Ahom kingdom. It then included, Garo Hills and Lushai Hills (Mizoram). Since that time, the boundaries of Assam have been repeatedly redrawn, though the name Assam remained. Today, the political boundary of Assam contains roughly the historical Ahom Kingdom and its protectorates, the Kachari kingdom, Koch Hajo and a part of the Jaintia Kingdom.