assassino Italian · revision 37958

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=before 1290, Guido delle Colonne|origins=ar حَشِيش}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /as.sasˈsi.no/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''assassino''' ''m'' (plural assassini, feminine assassina)^(Wiktionary)

+ Older spellings include [[roa-oit|assessino]], [[m|roa-oit|asessino]] and [[m|roa-oit|assessin]], and the TLIO records northern forms such as [[m|roa-oit|asaxin]].^(TLIO)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ Its source is the plural [[bor|ar|حَشَّاشِين|tr=ḥaššāšīn|t=hashish users]], the name the Crusaders gave to the members of the Nizari Ismaili sect led by the “Old Man of the Mountain”.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Wiktionary) Nocentini starts from the colloquial plural of [[m|ar|حَشِيشِيّ|tr=ḥašīšī]], a derivative of [[m|ar|حَشِيش|tr=ḥašīš|t=hashish]].^(Nocentini 2010) Wiktionary also mentions [[m|ar|أَسَاسِيُّون|tr=ʔasāsiyyūn|t=fundamentalists]] as a possible source.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ According to Nocentini the word reached Europe through French, [[fro|hassissin]], and probably through Occitan as well, which explains why the initial consonant was lost and why the Arabic /š/ became /s/.^(Nocentini 2010) Meyer-Lübke also derives the Italian word from [[fr|assassin]] and has [[es|asesino]] taken from Italian;^(REW 1935) the other forms are [[pro|asasí]] and [[pt|assassino]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(Körting 1907)

+

+ The usual explanation of the name is that the sect's killers drugged themselves before their attacks, a story Marco Polo already told.^(DELI 1999)^(DEI|328)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) Nocentini rejects it: hashish was a habit of the poor, so the Arabic word probably meant something like “rabble”.^(Nocentini 2010) He also holds that the modern sense “murderer” arose in Italian and spread from there to the other Romance languages.^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ DELI's first record is the form ''assessino'' in Guido delle Colonne (before 1290), for a member of the Muslim sect that obeyed the Old Man of the Mountain blindly and became known in Syria, Palestine and Mesopotamia for its killings;^(DELI 1999)^(TLIO) ''assassino'' itself appears at the end of the 13th century in the ''Novellino''.^(DELI 1999)^(TLIO) The 13th-century ''Mare amoroso'' has the lover swear “io v'amo e servo assai più lealmente / che l'asessino al Veglio de la Montagna” (I love and serve you far more loyally than the assassin serves the Old Man of the Mountain).^(Prati 1951|78)^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From the sect the word passed to anyone who killed for another's pay, and then to any murderer.^(TLIO)^(DELI 1999) Dante, before 1321, compares himself to a friar hearing the confession of “lo perfido assassin” (the treacherous assassin), and his commentator Francesco da Buti explains that an ''assassino'' is one who kills others for money.^(GDLI|1, 750)^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861) Giovanni Villani tells how Castruccio, lord of Lucca, sent his ''assassini'' to Pisa to kill a count.^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861) The verb ''assassinare'' is recorded from Dino Compagni (1310–1312), and Machiavelli uses it for “to ruin, damage badly”;^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010) ''assassinio'' follows by about 1600.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)

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+ The adjective developed figurative senses: ''mano assassina'', the hand that commits a murder, and, from 1865 eyes or glances that are ''assassini'', irresistibly seductive.^(DELI 1999)^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861) In 18th-century fashion a ''mosca assassina'' was an artificial beauty spot placed at the corner of the eye or mouth.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011) Today the noun is also used, as an exaggeration, for someone who does great harm through incompetence.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

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+ French ''assassin'' is recorded from 1195 for the sect, from 1560 for a hired killer and, from 1606 for a murderer;^(DIFIT) English had ''Ascisinus'' “murderer” in 1531, from French or Italian.^(DIFIT)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1195 – French ''assassin'' is recorded for a member of the sect.^(DIFIT)

+ * Before 1290 – Guido delle Colonne uses ''assessino''.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)

+ * Late 13th century – ''Assassino'' appears in the ''Novellino''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1310–1312 – Dino Compagni uses ''assassinare''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1321 – Dante uses the word for a murderer.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1513–1521 – Machiavelli uses ''assassinare'' for “to ruin”.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1531 – English ''Ascisinus'' “murderer” is recorded.^(DIFIT)

+ * 1865 – Tommaseo–Bellini records the adjective “seductive”.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|murderer]], someone who has committed a [[m|en|homicide]]: ''La polizia cerca ancora l'assassino della commessa.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(history)'' A member of the [[m|en|Assassins]], the Muslim sect of the 12th and 13th centuries whose followers were used as killers.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+ # ''(dated)'' A hired killer, a [[m|en|hitman]].^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(figurative)'' Someone who does serious harm through cruelty or incompetence: ''Quel meccanico è un assassino, mi ha rovinato il motore.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Murderous, used for or serving to kill: ''mano assassina'', ''un'arma assassina''.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(figurative)'' [[m|en|seductive]], irresistible: ''uno sguardo assassino''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(figurative)'' Exhausting or harmful: ''una salita assassina'', ''un mestiere assassino'', hard work that pays little.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[assassinare]]

+ * [[assassinio]]

+ * [[assassina]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[hashish]]

+ * [[fr|assassin]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The feminine is ''assassina''.^(Wiktionary)^(Zingarelli 2010) The saying ''l'assassino torna sempre sul luogo del delitto'' (the murderer always returns to the scene of the crime) is a common set phrase.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}