It comes from Hassan (Hasan ibn al-Sabbah) and his followers. The most acceptable etymology of the word assassin is the simple one. This could be the true drug of the Assassins as described by Marco Polo. The word Hashish (of probable Arabic origin) refers to resin collected from cannabis flowers. The connection between their mysticism and that drug is not something subject to reliable or consistent historical accounts this is not surprising given their secrecy and infamy. Yet other accounts state it was used in their initiation rites in order to show the neophyte the sensual pleasures awaiting him in the afterlife. Some common accounts of their connection with hashish are that these "assassins" would take hashish before missions in order to calm themselves others say that it helped to boost their strength, and turned them into madmen in battle. Others suggest that since hashish-eaters were generally ostracized in the Middle Ages, the word "Hashshashin" had become a common synonym for "outlaws." So the attribution of Hassan's Ismaili sect with this term is not necessarily a clue for drug use. It is suggested by some writers that assassin simply means "followers of Al-Hassan" (or Hassan-i-Sabah, the Sheikh of Alamut)). However, alcohol is not likely to have been the drug described, being totally prohibited by the Muslim faith. However, there are those who dispute this etymology, arguing that it originates from Marco Polo's account of his visit to Alamut in 1273, in which he describes a drug whose effects are more like those of alcohol than of hashish. The name "assassin" is commonly believed to be a mutation of the Arabic hashshshin (حشّاشين), which allegedly derives from the drug hashish that was said to be used by the group before going into battle. Subsequently, after the etymology of the term had been forgotten, it came to be used in Europe as a noun meaning “murderer.” Thus, a misnomer rooted in abuse eventually resulted in a new word, assassin, in European language This term of abuse was picked up locally in Syria by the Crusaders and European travelers, and adopted as the designation of the Nizari Ismailis. The latter was applied by other Muslims to Nizaris in the pejorative sense of “low-class rabble” or “people of lax morality,” without any derivative explanation reflecting any special connection between the Nizaris and hashish, a product of hemp. The term assassin, which appeared in European languages in a variety of forms (e.g., assassini, assissini, and heyssisini), was evidently based on variants of the Arabic word hashishi (pl.
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