From a historical perspective, the name Hindu Kush (also written as Hindukush is relatively recent. It does not appear in the writings of the early Arab geographers and is first mentioned in the works of Ibn Battuta, in the 14th century.
Hindu Kush is generally translated as "Killer of Hindus" or "Hindu-Killer"in the popular literature.The earliest explanation offered for the name comes from Ibn Battuta. According to him, Hindu Kush means Hindu-slayer as slaves from the Indian subcontinent died in the harsh climatic conditions of the mountains while being taken to Turkestan by traders.
Several other scholars believe the name to be a corruption of Hindu Koh ('mountains of India').The 16th-century Mughal court historian Abu al-Fazl ibn Mubarak also refers to the range as Hindu Koh in his Ain-i-Akbari. According to Nigel Allan, the term Hindu Kush had two alternate meanings popular for centuries i.e 'mountains of India' and 'sparkling snows of India', with Kush respectively being a soft variant of kuh ('mountain') or referring to the quality of snow. Allan further states that to the Arab geographers Hindu Kush was the frontier boundary of Hindustan.
