assassin French · revision 15729

+ {{infobox|confidence=disputed|formation=borrowing|attested=1560, Rémy Belleau|origins=ar حشاشين}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /a.sa.sɛ̃/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''assassin''' ''m'' (plural assassins, feminine assassine)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French ''harsasis'' (1195), ''hassissis'', ''assacis'', ''hassissin'' and other forms for the members of the Syrian sect.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|it|assassino|t=hired killer]], also “assessino”, used in that sense by Dante early in the 14th century.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(FEW|19, 69a) Older forms, frequent in Medieval Latin, Old French and Old Occitan, named the members of an Ismaili sect of Syria who killed Christian and Muslim leaders on their master's orders; they came straight from Arabic at the time of the Crusades.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ The source of the Arabic word is disputed.^(DHLF 1992)^(Wiktionary) Since Silvestre de Sacy (1809) it has been explained as [[ar|حشاشين|tr=ḥaššāšīn|t=hashish users]], from [[m|ar|حشيش|tr=ḥašīš|t=hashish]], the killers' fury being put down to the drug;^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(GLLF 1989)^(Wiktionary) Rey, the Grand Robert and the Petit Robert prefer [[m|ar|عساسين|tr=ʿassāsīn|t=guards]], the plural of “ʿassās” “guard”, since a religious order would hardly have called its members hashish users.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Petit Robert 2007) Ménage had connected it with Arabic “hassa” “to cut to pieces”.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ Cognate with [[oc|assassin]], [[es|asesino]] and [[it|assassino]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Joinville (13th century) writes of the ''assacis'' whom the Old Man of the Mountain sent to kill; the modern sense, a hired killer, is first found in Rémy Belleau (1560).^(Littré 1873)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Already in the Middle Ages the name of the sect was used figuratively, as by the troubadours, for a follower blindly devoted to a master, and for blind faithfulness in love.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) In the 16th century, borrowed again from Italian, ''assassin'' meant a hired killer and then anyone who kills with premeditation; it was also used where modern French says ''assassinat'' (1547, with ''assassiner'' 1546).^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ The cry ''à l'assassin !'' calls for help, and by extension a doctor or other person blamed for someone's death is ''un assassin''.^(GLLF 1989)^(Littré 1873) In classical French an ''assassin'' was also a black beauty spot worn under the eye, and in poetry ''des yeux assassins'' were killingly beautiful eyes.^(Littré 1873)^(GLLF 1989)^(Larousse)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1195 – ''Harsasis''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 13th century – ''Assacis'' in Joinville.^(Littré 1873)

+ * early 14th century – Italian ''assassino'' “hired killer” (Dante).^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * 1546–1547 – ''Assassiner'', ''assassinat''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1560 – ''Assassin'' “hired killer” (Belleau).^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1809 – Silvestre de Sacy connects the name with hashish.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|murderer]], a person who kills with [[m|en|premeditation]]; an [[m|en|assassin]].^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''À l'assassin !'': a cry for help from someone in danger of being killed.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # A person held responsible for someone's death.^(GLLF 1989)^(Littré 1873)

+ # ''(historical)'' A black [[m|en|beauty spot]] worn under the eye.^(Larousse)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # ''(literary)'' Murderous^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Littré 1873); ''(figurative)'' killingly seductive: ''œillade assassine''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[assassiner]]

+ * [[assassinat]]

+ * [[haschich]]

+ * [[en|assassin]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}