Hashishin

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A member of a medieval Persian Nizari Ismaili sect that carried out political killings of rival leaders in the Middle East
2. One of the followers of a secretive medieval Ismaili order whose members were known for targeted assassinations
3. A militant adherent of a medieval Islamic sect in Persia and Syria, historically feared for murdering enemies on its leaders' orders

Etymology: The English word "assassin" traces back to "hashishin," an Arabic term for users of hashish, and the story behind it is widely told but historically murky. According to the common account, members of a radical Nizari Ismaili sect in medieval Persia and Syria, sometimes called the Nizari Ismailis or Assassins, were said to have been drugged with hashish before carrying out killings. Marco Polo repeated this tale in the late 13th century, and it spread through Europe, where the sect's name became a byword for murderers. Modern historians doubt much of this account. The sect's own followers probably did not use the term, which seems to have been a derisive label applied by their enemies, and the story of hashish-fuelled killers is difficult to verify. The name reached English through Medieval Latin and Italian forms such as "assassinus," and by the 1600s "assassin" had become an ordinary English noun meaning a murderer, especially one who kills for pay or for political motives.

Synonyms: assassin