हिन्दु कुश पर्वतों को [[संस्कृत भाषा|संस्कृत]] में 'ऊपरासेना' बुलाया जाता था। जब इस इलाक़े में [[सिकंदर|सिकंदर]] की जीत हुई तो इन पर्वतों को [[यूनानी भाषा]] में 'कौकासोश इन्दिकौश' (Καύκασος Ινδικός, Caucasus Indicus) यानि 'भारतीय पर्वत' बुलाया जाने लगा।
==== हिंदू-के-हत्यारा ====
''हिंदू कुश'' आम तौर पर इसका अनुवाद [[हिंदू]] के हत्यारे के रूप में किया जाता है। उन पहाड़ों में हिन्दुस्थित केखतरनाक बार बार होने वाले नरसंहारदर्रों के कारण।<ref>[a] {{cite book|author=Michael Franzak|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KqenaOE0ziIC&pg=PA241|title=A Nightmare's Prayer: A Marine Harrier Pilot's War in Afghanistan|publisher=Simon and Schuster|year=2010|isbn=978-1-4391-9499-7|page=241}};<br />[b] {{cite book|author=Ehsan Yarshater|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ulYOAQAAMAAJ|title=Encyclopædia Iranica|publisher=The Encyclopaedia Iranica Foundation|year=2003|isbn=978-0-933273-76-4|page=312}}<br />[c] {{cite book|author=James Wynbrandt|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xQGwgJnCPZgC|title=A Brief History of Pakistan|publisher=Infobase Publishing|year=2009|isbn=978-0-8160-6184-6|page=5}};<br />[d] {{cite book|title=Encyclopedia Americana|year=1993|volume=14|page=206}};<br />[e] {{cite book|author=André Wink|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g2m7_R5P2oAC&pg=PA110|title=Al-Hind, the Making of the Indo-Islamic World: Early Medieval India and the Expansion of Islam 7th–11th Centuries|publisher=BRILL Academic|year=2002|isbn=978-0-391-04173-8|page=110}}, Quote: "(..) the Muslim Arabs also applied the name 'Khurasan' to all the Muslim provinces to the east of the Great Desert and up to the '''Hindu-Kush ('Hindu killer')''' mountains, the Chinese desert and the Pamir mountains".</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Runion|first=Meredith L.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EY6NDgAAQBAJ&q=%22hindu+kush%22+%22killer+of+hindus%22&pg=PA4|title=The History of Afghanistan, 2nd Edition|date=2017-04-24|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-61069-778-1|language=en|quote=The literal translation of the name “Hindu Kush” is a true reflection of its forbidding topography, as this difficult and jagged section of Afghanistan translates to “Killer of Hindus.”}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Weston|first=Christine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZFDhAAAAMAAJ&q=%22hindu+kush%22+%22hindu+killers%22|title=Afghanistan|date=1962|publisher=Scribner|language=en|quote=To the north and northeast, magnificent and frightening, stretched the mountains of the Hindu Kush, or Hindu Killers, a name derived from the fact that in ancient times slaves brought from India perished here like flies from exposure and cold.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Knox|first=Barbara|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vzPswhHQAH0C&q=%22hindu+kush%22+%22killer+of+hindus%22&pg=PA4|title=Afghanistan|date=2004|publisher=Capstone|isbn=978-0-7368-2448-4|language=en|quote=Hindu Kush means "killer of Hindus." Many people have died trying to cross these mountains.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The World Book Encyclopedia|publisher=[[Scott Fetzer Company|World Book Inc.]]|year=1990|edition=1994|volume=9|page=235}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Boyle|first=J.A.|title=A Practical Dictionary of the Persian Language|publisher=Luzac & Co.|year=1949|page=129}}</ref><ref name="Steingass1992p1030">{{cite book|author=Francis Joseph Steingass|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=knA9NptP7xsC&pg=PA1030|title=A Comprehensive Persian-English Dictionary|publisher=Asian Educational Services|year=1992|isbn=978-81-206-0670-8|pages=1030–1031 ('''kush means''' "killer, kills, slays, murders, oppresses"), p. 455 (khirs–kush means "bear killer"), p. 734 (shutur–kush means "camel butcher"), p. 1213 (mardum–kush means "man slaughter")}}</ref>
