Assassin; Hashish?
What is the connection between the word assassin and the word hashish? Is there a connection? It is commonly thought that the word assassin comes from the hashish that a sect of medieval Islamic assassins pumped themselves up with before heading out on a mission.
Hashish
The word hashish comes relatively unchanged to English in the 1590s from Arabic hashishin (powdered hemp, hemp), a word generally related to herbage, dry herbs, rough grass, and hay.
Assassin
The word assassin comes to English from medieval French assissini and medieval Italian assassini in the 1530s from Arabic hashishin, a derogatory Arabic nickname for the fanatical Nizari sect living in the mountains of Lebanon between 1090 and 1275. Hashishin is the plural of hashishiyy (hashish).
In contrast, the Nizari sect described themselves with the term Asasiyyan, from Arabic asas (principle). For the Nizari, Asasiyyan did not mean assassin, but rather ‘people of principle’.
Originally referring to the methods of political control exercised by the Asasiyyan, the term ‘assassin’ is now in several languages describing similar activities anywhere. However, in spite of the derogatory nickname given by fellow Arabs, there is apparently no evidence that they used hashish to intoxicate themselves—likely an embellishment by later Western writers.
Assassin and/or Hashish?
So, why was hashish used as a nickname for people who went around assassinating other people? Apparently, the Arabic words asasiyyun and hashishin sound very similar; perhaps, they could be considered homophones (words that sound the same, but are spelled differently and have different meanings; e.g., such as English homophones like idle/idol, steal/steel).
These two Arabic words were carried to Western Europe by soldiers, traders, and others. Over time, the similarities in their sound and meaning intertwined as they became part of Western European languages. And so the name assassin in English is derived from the derogatory nickname rather than from the name the Nizari gave to themselves.
There are similar cases in Western Europe as fringe or unpopular groups emerge. For example, the words Quaker and Jesuit were originally derogatory terms for members of, respectively, the Religious Society of Friends and the Society of Jesus (Jesuit is still considered derogatory in some contexts; e.g., one definition of Jesuit in the current Miriam-Webster Dictionary is “one given to intrique or equivocation”).
Such examples may reflect situations in which the emotion or affect attached to a word is what makes it stick in the language rather than the word’s more rational or theoretical meaning. Perhaps for this reason, the derogatory ‘hashashin’ stuck in people’s minds more than the descriptive ‘asasiyyun’.
Reference: Online Etymological Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_Assassins
Hashish
The word hashish comes relatively unchanged to English in the 1590s from Arabic hashishin (powdered hemp, hemp), a word generally related to herbage, dry herbs, rough grass, and hay.
Assassin
The word assassin comes to English from medieval French assissini and medieval Italian assassini in the 1530s from Arabic hashishin, a derogatory Arabic nickname for the fanatical Nizari sect living in the mountains of Lebanon between 1090 and 1275. Hashishin is the plural of hashishiyy (hashish).
In contrast, the Nizari sect described themselves with the term Asasiyyan, from Arabic asas (principle). For the Nizari, Asasiyyan did not mean assassin, but rather ‘people of principle’.
Originally referring to the methods of political control exercised by the Asasiyyan, the term ‘assassin’ is now in several languages describing similar activities anywhere. However, in spite of the derogatory nickname given by fellow Arabs, there is apparently no evidence that they used hashish to intoxicate themselves—likely an embellishment by later Western writers.
Assassin and/or Hashish?
So, why was hashish used as a nickname for people who went around assassinating other people? Apparently, the Arabic words asasiyyun and hashishin sound very similar; perhaps, they could be considered homophones (words that sound the same, but are spelled differently and have different meanings; e.g., such as English homophones like idle/idol, steal/steel).
These two Arabic words were carried to Western Europe by soldiers, traders, and others. Over time, the similarities in their sound and meaning intertwined as they became part of Western European languages. And so the name assassin in English is derived from the derogatory nickname rather than from the name the Nizari gave to themselves.
There are similar cases in Western Europe as fringe or unpopular groups emerge. For example, the words Quaker and Jesuit were originally derogatory terms for members of, respectively, the Religious Society of Friends and the Society of Jesus (Jesuit is still considered derogatory in some contexts; e.g., one definition of Jesuit in the current Miriam-Webster Dictionary is “one given to intrique or equivocation”).
Such examples may reflect situations in which the emotion or affect attached to a word is what makes it stick in the language rather than the word’s more rational or theoretical meaning. Perhaps for this reason, the derogatory ‘hashashin’ stuck in people’s minds more than the descriptive ‘asasiyyun’.
Reference: Online Etymological Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_Assassins
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