assassin

Our American Heritage dictionary gives two definitions for the word assassin:

"1. One who murders by surprise attack, esp. one who carries out a plot to kill a prominent person.
2. A member of a secret Muslim order that killed Crusaders and others."

I had never known about the second definition before today. Nor did I know that this word ultimately comes to English from the plural form of the Arabic word hasas, hassasin. This arabic word literally means "hashish user." After reading this out of our dictionary, I sought out the connection between murderers and drug users over this word's history with quick visit to our friendly OED. It provides the following clue:

"1. lit. A hashish-eater. Hist. (in pl.) Certain Muslim fanatics in the time of the Crusades, who were sent forth by their sheikh, the ‘Old Man of the Mountains,’ to murder the Christian leaders."

In an early literary usage of the word, J. Wolff (1860) tells us:

"The assassins, who are otherwise called the People of the Man of the Mountain, before they attacked an enemy, would intoxicate themselves with a powder made of hemp-leaves, out of which they prepared an inebriating electuary, called hashish."

Now that the book is closed on the mystery of these dope-crazed killing fiends, I feel compelled to leave you, dear readers, with a simple piece of advice: Don't Do Drugs. You might kill someone!