Sherry at Bittersweet has an interesting post on the former Kuwaiti communications minister’s rejection of Islamic fundamentalism.
“The words ‘assassination’ and ‘political violence’ are Arabic words, lent to all the languages of the world. I say this as an academic linguist. The root of the word ‘assassination’ is the word ‘hashashiyoun,’ the name of Hassan Al-Sabah’s group that came from Isfahan in the 13th century.
This is the first I’ve seen on this.
Don’t know about the hashashiyoun root of the word, but it was my understanding that assassin comes from a sect of islam known during the crusades as ‘Assassini’. They were a sect that devloped suicide assassins that were very effective against the christian ruling classes during the european’s escapades in the middle east. To my recollection they were more like stealthy ninja-types who infiltrated secure areas to assassinate rulers/ministers, but who were not expected to survive once the act was carried out.
Granted I’m not a phd scholar, but have read a thing or two on the subject.
I could also be completely wrong. Heh.
Personal note, I’m going on vacation in the morning, won’t be around for a week or so.
Comment by John — August 24, 2004 @ 12:57 am
I thought the same thing about “assassin”, derived fromthe name of a group of killers. I’m certainly no expert, and would think a man from that region has more knowledge than I.
Comment by Bunker — August 24, 2004 @ 5:43 am
The word “assassin” is ultimately related to “hashish”:
http://www.bartleby.com/61/3/A0470300.html
It was a plural for “Hashshaash” = “hashish user,” so technically “assassins” is redundant (a double plural).
In turn, the triconsonantal root of “hashish” is H-sh-sh “to mow”:
http://www.bartleby.com/61/roots/S139.html
The word “assassin” is not literally in “all the languages of the world”: e.g., in East Asia, variants of ?? “dark kill” are used: Mandarin ansha, Japanese ansatsu, Korean amsal, Vietnamese am sa?t, etc. The vague phonetic similarity to “assassin” is coincidental.
What I don’t get is how “political violence” is supposed to be an Arabic world.
Comment by Amritas — August 24, 2004 @ 2:56 pm
I meant “Arabic word,” of course.
Maybe Dr. bin Tefla meant to say something like ” ‘assassination’ meaning ‘political
violence’ ” instead of “‘assassination’ and ‘political violence’ .”
Comment by Amritas — August 24, 2004 @ 2:59 pm