assassin

Etymology

Recorded in English from the 16th century,^[1][2] and in Anglo-Latin from the mid-13th century.^[1] It is borrowed from French assassin or Italian assassino,^[3][4] from Medieval Latin assassīnus,^[5][2] from Arabic حَشَّاشِين (ḥaššāšīn, “hashish users”), plural of ḥaššāš “hashish user”,^[5][2] from ḥašīš “hashish”.^[5][2]

The Arabic word was a nickname, variously explained, for the Nizari Ismaili sect at the time of the Crusades.^[1] In Western Europe they were reputed to murder opposing leaders after intoxicating themselves with hashish, but there is no evidence that the medieval Ismailis used it.^[1] The Arabic plural ending -in was mistaken in Europe for part of the word.^[1] Wiktionary also records a derivation from Arabic asāsiyyīn “people faithful to the foundation (of the faith)”.^[4]

References

1. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
2. [1] [2] [3] [4] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. [1] Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. [1] [2] Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
5. [1] [2] [3] The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Boston: Houghton Mifflin