Word Origin | Suikast, Cinayet, Katil

The word "assassin" was derived from Hasan-i Sabbah and his Assassin's Order of Nizari Ismailism.
Mavi Boncuk |

Suikast: assassination EN [1] murder[2] for political gain  [ Meninski, Thesaurus, 1680] sui kasdini tahkīk idüp: Verificando malum eius ac iniquium propositum [kötü niyetini konfirme ederek]. [Ahmed Vefik Paşa, Lugat-ı Osmani, 1876] sui kasd: Katle tasaddi [attempt to murder]. fromAR sūˀ سؤ  kötülük, fenalık, habaset; evil EN( sāˀa kötü idi, kötüleşti; went bad EN) AR ḳaṣd قصد kasıt, maksat; wilful EN.

Nisanyan’s note:  Possible euphemism from Abdulhamid II era. Muhtemelen II. Abdülhamid döneminde yerli ve yabancı devlet başkanlarına yönelik cinayet girişimlerinden açıkça söz etmek uygun görülmediği için, "kötü niyet" anlamına gelen bu dolaylı ifade tercih edilmiştir.

Founded by the Arab-Persian Hassan-i Sabbah,[3] the Assassins were active in the fortress of Alamut in Iran from the 8th to the 14th centuries, and also controlled the castle of Masyaf in Syria. The group killed members of the Persian, Abbasid, Seljuq, and Christian Crusader élite for political and religious reasons.

Although it is commonly believed that Assassins were under the influence of hashish during their killings or during their indoctrination, there is debate as to whether these claims have merit, with many Eastern writers and an increasing number of Western academics coming to believe that drug-taking was not the key feature behind the name.[6] The earliest known literary use of the word assassination is in Macbeth by William Shakespeare (1605).


The word for "murder" in many Romance languages is derived from this same root word (see Spanish asesinato).

The word assassin is often believed to derive from the word Hashshashin (Arabic: حشّاشين, ħashshāshīyīn, also Hashishin, Hashashiyyin, or Assassins), and shares its etymological roots with hashish (/hæˈʃiːʃ/ or /ˈhæʃiːʃ/; from Arabic: حشيش ḥashīsh).[4] It referred to a group of Nizari Shia Persians who worked against various Arab and Persian targets.

Cinayet: Murder EN[2][ İrşadü'l-Mülûk ve's-Selâtîn, 1387]
iki cināyet immā hācası ol kulnı birgey ikisine üleşkeyler yā ikisiniŋ diyetini birgey fromAR cināya(t) جناية  crime, (a degree above kabahat [fault EN] in Islamic law punishable by death.) from Aramaic gunāyā גניא old Persion gunāh Ottoman law applied this title to many high level crimes. Since 1927 Turkish Criminal Law used only for manslaughter.

Katil: fromAR ḳātil قاتل killerEN[5] ḳatala قَتَلَ öldürdü; killed EN

[1] Assassin (n.) 1530s (in Anglo-Latin from mid-13c.), via French and Italian, from Arabic hashishiyyin "hashish-users," plural of hashishiyy, from the source of hashish (q.v.). A fanatical Ismaili Muslim sect of the time of the Crusades, under leadership of the "Old Man of the Mountains" (translates Arabic shaik-al-jibal, name applied to Hasan ibu-al-Sabbah), with a reputation for murdering opposing leaders after intoxicating themselves by eating hashish. The plural suffix -in was mistaken in Europe for part of the word (compare Bedouin).

[2] Murder (v.) Old English myrðrian, from Proto-Germanic *murthjan (cognates: Old High German murdran, German mördren, Gothic maurþjan; 

Murderer (n.) mid-14c., alteration of murtherer (c. 1300), agent noun from murder (v.); in part from Old French mordrere, from Medieval Latin murdrarius, from Germanic. Old English words for this included morðorcwalu, morðorslaga, morðorwyrhta, literally "murder-wright."

Murder (n.) c. 1300, murdre, from Old English morðor (plural morþras) "secret killing of a person, unlawful killing," also "mortal sin, crime; punishment, torment, misery," from Proto-Germanic *murthra- (cognates: Goth maurþr, and, from a variant form of the same root, Old Saxon morth, Old Frisian morth, Old Norse morð, Middle Dutch moort, Dutch moord, German Mord "murder"), from PIE *mrtro-, from root *mer- "to die" (see mortal (adj.)). The spelling with -d- probably reflects influence of Anglo-French murdre, from Old French mordre, from Medieval Latin murdrum, from the Germanic root. 

Viking custom, typical of Germanic, distinguished morð (Old Norse) "secret slaughter," from vig (Old Norse) "slaying." The former involved concealment, or slaying a man by night or when asleep, and was a heinous crime. The latter was not a disgrace, if the killer acknowledged his deed, but he was subject to vengeance or demand for compensation.

Mordre wol out that se we day by day. [Chaucer, "Nun's Priest's Tale," c. 1386]
Weakened sense of "very unpleasant situation" is from 1878.

Murder (v.) Old English myrðrian, from Proto-Germanic *murthjan (cognates: Old High German murdran, German mördren, Gothic maurþjan; Related: Murdered; murdering.

[3] Hassan-i Sabbāh (Persian: حسن صباح Hasan-e Sabbāh) or Hassan al-Sabbāh (Arabic: حسن الصباح Ḥasan aṣ-Ṣabbāḥ) (1050s-1124) was a Nizārī Ismā‘īlī missionary who converted a community in the late 11th century in the heart of the Alborz Mountains of northern Persia. He later seized a mountain fortress called Alamut and used it as the headquarters for a decentralized Persian insurrection against the dominant Seljuk Turks. He founded a group of fedayeen whose members are often referred to as the Hashshashin, or "Assassins".

[4] Hashish (n.)  also hasheesh, 1590s, from Arabic hashish "powdered hemp," extended from sense "herbage, hay," from hashsha "it became dry, it dried up." 

[5] Kill (v.) c. 1200, "to strike, hit, beat, knock;" c. 1300, "to deprive of life," perhaps from an unrecorded variant of Old English cwellan "to kill". 

Quell (v.) Old English cwellan "to kill, murder, execute," from Proto-Germanic *kwaljanan (cognates: Old English cwelan "to die," cwalu "violent death;" Old Saxon quellian "to torture, kill;" Old Norse kvelja "to torment;" Middle Dutch quelen "to vex, tease, torment;" Old High German quellan "to suffer pain," German quälen "to torment, torture"), from PIE root *gwele- "to throw, reach," with extended sense of "to pierce" (cognates: Armenian kelem "I torture;" Old Church Slavonic zali "pain;" Lithuanian galas "end," gela "agony," gelti "to sting;" see ballistics). Milder sense of "suppress, extinguish" developed by c. 1300. Related: Quelled; quelling.