I came across this purported nirukta of the word "kaśmīra" on the Wikipedia page for "Kashmir" -- does anyone know where it comes from? -- :

The Nilamata Purana describes the Valley's origin from the waters, Ka means "water" and Shimir means "to desiccate". Hence, Kaashmir stands for "a land desiccated from water." There is also a theory which takes Kaashmir to be a contraction of Kashyap-mira or Kashyapmir or Kashyapmeru, the "sea or mountain of Kashyapa", the sage who is credited with having drained the waters of the primordial lake Satisar, that Kaashmir was before it was reclaimed.

I checked the Nīlamata Purāna, which has this:

kaḥ prajāpatir uddiṣṭaḥ kaśyapaś ca prajāpatiḥ |
tenāsau nirmito deśaḥ kaśmīrākhyo bhaviṣyati || 231 ||
kaṃ vāri hariṇā yasmād deśād asmād apākṛtam |
kaśmīrākhyaṃ tato paśya nāma loke bhaviṣỵati || 232 ||

source: https://archive.org/stream/nilamatapurana/nilamata_purana#page/n47/mode/2up

This explains the "ka" as water (vāri), but doesn't have anything to say about "shimir". The Rājataraṅgiṇī has, similarly:

kaśyapena tadantaḥstaṃ ghātayitvā jalodbhavam |
nirmame tatsarobhūmau kaśmīrā iti maṇḍalam || 27 ||

source: https://archive.org/stream/TheRajataranginiOfKalhanaVol3/The%20Rajatarangini%20of%20Kalhana%20-%20Vol%201#page/n7/mode/2up

Neither source seems to have anything to say about the second half of the word "kaśmīra" meaning something like "desiccated". Does anyone have any idea where this might come from?

Thanks,

Charles