assassiner

Forms

assassiner^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian assassinare, from assassino (“assassin”).^[2][3][4][5] Bloch and Wartburg and the GLLF date it to 1546 (Rabelais), the DHLF and the Grand Robert to 1556.^[2][5][3][4] Wiktionary and Littré derive it from the French noun assassin, which is recorded later, in 1560.^[1][6][2]

The Italian noun comes from an Arabic word for the hashish-users, the name of a Syrian sect whose members often murdered Christian and Muslim leaders.^[2] Wiktionary gives the source as Arabic حَشَّاشِين (ḥaššāšīn, “hashish users”) and names another possible source.^[1] The name had already reached Old French directly at the time of the Crusades, in forms such as harsasis (1195).^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in Rabelais in 1546, meaning to kill someone with premeditation.^[2][5] In the 16th century it could also mean “to sack (a town)”: Saliat writes of a city prise et assassinee.^[7][3]

Semantic evolution

The verb took on extended senses at once: “to sack, plunder” in the 16th century, then “to cause someone's death” and “to beat, bruise”.^[3][7] In 1611 Cotgrave glosses it as killing for gain or reward, and also as setting on someone with murderous intent.^[8]

Figurative senses followed: “to bore to death” (1633, compare assommer), “to pester” in Molière, and “to cause great grief to someone”;^[3][9] Rey calls them all archaic.^[3][9] The related noun assassinat (1547) is probably derived from the verb.^[3]

Timeline

• 1546 – First recorded, in Rabelais.^[2][5]
• 1547 – The noun assassinat.^[3][2]
• 1556 – The date given by the DHLF and the Grand Robert.^[3][4]
• 1560 – The noun assassin is recorded.^[3][2]
• 1611 – Cotgrave glosses it “to slay, kill, murder for gain”.^[8]
• 1633 – Figurative sense “to bore to death”.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To murder someone with premeditation or by ambush, to assassinate.^[10][11]
2. To kill unjustly: Ces ordres ont assassiné des innocents.^[10][11]
3. (figurative) To do great harm to, to ruin or destroy.^[5][11]
4. Assassiner quelqu'un du regard: to glare at someone murderously.^[11]
5. (familiar) To charge someone an outrageous price.^[5][11]
6. (dated) To pester or weary someone.^[6][9]

Word family

• assassinat

Related words

• assassin
• Italian assassinare

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b Huguet, Edmond (1925–1967), Dictionnaire de la langue française du seizième siècle, 7 vols., Paris: Champion / Didier
8. ^ a b Cotgrave, Randle (1611), A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues, London: Adam Islip
9. ^ a b c Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
10. ^ a b Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
11. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert