The name of the range derives from the Sanskrit (, Abode of the Snow), from (, snow) and (, receptacle, dwelling). They are now known as the Himalaya Mountains, usually shortened to the Himalayas. Formerly, they were described in the singular as the Himalaya and rendered as Himavan in older writings. This was also previously transcribed as Himmaleh, as in Emily Dickinson's poetry and Henry David Thoreau's essays.