Origin of Name

The terms "Nepal" and "Newar" are phonetically different forms of the same word. Nepal is the learned Sanskrit form and Newar is the colloquial Prakrit form. A Sanskrit inscription dated 512 AD found in Tistung, a valley to the south of Kathmandu, contains the phrase “greetings to the Nepals” indicating that the term "Nepal" was used to refer to both the country and the people. The term "Newar" referring to "inhabitant of Nepal" appeared for the first time in an inscription dated 1654 AD in Kathmandu. It is believed that Nepal may be a sanskritization of Newar, or Newar may be a later form of Nepal. According to another explanation, the words Newar and Newari are vulgarisms arising from the mutation of P to V, and L to R.