Similarities between Lincoln and Tupac.

[Eva Elisabeth]

Laurie, thanks for posting this question! I love etymology so I've checked the origin of this word. It's (I think) fascinating:

The word assassin is believed to derive from the word Hashshashin (Arabic: ħashshāshīyīn - Assassins), and shares its etymological roots with hashish (Arabic: ashīsh - grass). It referred to a group of Nizari Shia Arabs who worked against various Persian targets.

Founded by Arabian Hassan-i Sabbah, the Assassins were active in Iran and Syria from the 8th to the 14th century. It was a secret society of deadly assassins, which was built in a hierarchical format. The group killed members of the Persian and Christian Crusader élite for political and religious reasons.

Although it is believed that Assassins were under the influence of hashish during their killings or during their indoctrination, it's not proven that drug-taking was the key feature behind the name.

The literal interpretation of the term in referring to the Nizaris (as hashish consuming intoxicated assassins) is rooted in the fantasies and imagination of medieval Westerners. The term spreaded through military encounters between the Nizaris and the Crusaders, whose chroniclers adopted the term and disseminated it across Europe. In 1603 the first Western publication on the topic of the Assassins was authored by a court official for King Henry IV and was mainly based on the narratives of Marco Polo from his visits to the Near East. He failed to explain the etymology of the term "assassin".

The earliest known literary use of the word "assassination" is in Macbeth (1605).