ASSASSINATE

Use this forum to discuss past Good Words.
User avatar
Dr. Goodword
Site Admin
Posts: 7417
Joined: Wed Feb 02, 2005 9:28 am
Location: Lewisburg, PA
Contact:

ASSASSINATE

Postby Dr. Goodword » Thu Mar 23, 2006 11:51 pm

• assassinate •

Pronunciation: ê-sæs-sê-neyt • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Verb, transitive

Meaning: 1. To murder someone of stature in cold blood. 2. To deprecate, calumniate, slander, as to assassinate someone's good name.

Notes: As a change of pace we decided today to send out a Bad Word instead of a good one. This word is so bad, it starts out with a bad word, repeats it to make sure we get it, has a heart of sin, and refers to one of the worse crimes a mortal can commit. How bad can a word get? However, since assassination (the noun) does occur, we have to deal with it. A person who assassinates is not an assassinator, as you might expect, but an assassin.

In Play: We have witnessed terrible assassinations in the 20th century: US President John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Egyptian President Anwar Saddat, and Indian President Indira Gandhi among them. Keep in mind, though, this word can also be used in a metaphorical sense: "Political figures today are less interesting in debating the issues than in assassinating the character of their opponents."

Word History: Today's word even has a suitably unsavory past. It is a verb built upon the noun assassin, from French assassin or Italian assassino. The European languages borrowed this word from Arabic hashishiyy-in "hashish users", the plural of hashishiyy in the 13th century. The term originally referred to a fanatical anti-Christian Muslim sect at the time of the Crusades led by Hasan ibu-al-Sabbah, called Shaik-al-jibal "Old Man of the Mountains". Hasan undertook a program of killing and harassing the Christians and his followers had the reputation of getting high on hashish before carrying out his orders. (Today we thank Berk Efe Altinal for pointing out this unsavory lexical contribution from Arabic to the English language.)
• The Good Dr. Goodword

Flaminius
Lexiterian
Posts: 408
Joined: Fri Feb 18, 2005 4:36 am

Re: ASSASSINATE

Postby Flaminius » Fri Mar 24, 2006 4:50 am

Word History: The European languages borrowed this word from Arabic hashishiyy-in "hashish users", the plural of hashishiyy in the 13th century. The term originally referred to a fanatical anti-Christian Muslim sect at the time of the Crusades led by Hasan ibu-al-Sabbah, called Shaik-al-jibal "Old Man of the Mountains".
The followers of Sabbah called themselves asaasiyuun, fundamentalist, from asaas principle. I believe they used no drugs other than faith and hashishiyy etymology has been influenced by slanders by Muslims. In fact, Sabbah's group terrified the Muslim world more than Christendom, even though the Crusaders found several prominent victims from their rank when their interests crashed with theirs.
Amin Maalouf, in his novel Samarkand, writes of the assassins that 'their contemporaries in the Muslim world would call them hash-ishiyun, "hashish-smokers"; some Orientalists thought that this was the origin of the word "assassin," which in many European languages was more terrifying yet....The Truth is different. According to texts that have come down to us from Alamut, Hassan liked to call his disciples Assassiyun, meaning people who are faithful to the Assass, the "foundation" of the faith. This is the word, misunderstood by foreign travelers, that seemed similar to "hashish."'
from Wikipedia entry: Hashshashin

User avatar
gailr
Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 1945
Joined: Tue Mar 15, 2005 11:40 am
Contact:

Postby gailr » Fri Mar 24, 2006 11:12 pm

An unshakable conviction of being:
(a) singled out;
(b) entrusted with the most inner workings of the divine mind;
(c) infallible in determining whether someone holding a differing view should be permitted to live; and
(d) morally obligated to impose that ideology upon the ignorant masses--violently if needed--for their own good...

such a state has cropped up with tedious frequency throughout history. It seems to be as addictive and mind/personality altering as any drug.


Words with emotionally charged meanings can be challenging when viewed from the other side of the mirror. For example: opposition to an assassin's mindset may also require strong stomachs. Had Dietrich Bonhoeffer* and his friends been successful, would "assassin" be the correct designation?

-gailr
*one of my heroes

eberntson
Lexiterian
Posts: 457
Joined: Thu Feb 10, 2005 10:48 am
Location: Cambridge, Mass
Contact:

What is the difference between Murder & Assassinate?

Postby eberntson » Mon Nov 10, 2008 2:39 pm

What is the difference between Murder & Assassinate?

This came up because the Heritage dictionary at home gives the following circular examples:
President Lincoln was assassinated in the Ford’s Theater.

John Wilkes Booth murdered President Lincoln in Ford’s Theater.
Is this just bad work on the dictionary staff paqrt, or is assassinate just a sub-definition of murder?

Also, is there a word for "killing someone in self-defense"? Besides innocent.

~E
EBERNTSON
Fear less, hope more;
eat less, chew more;
whine less, breathe more;
talk less, say more,
and all good things will be yours.
--R. Burns

sluggo
Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 1476
Joined: Wed Apr 12, 2006 1:58 pm
Location: Carolinia Agrestícia: The Forest Primeval

Re: What is the difference between Murder & Assassinate?

Postby sluggo » Tue Nov 25, 2008 12:02 pm

What is the difference between Murder & Assassinate?...
Good question. I've heard it argued that it depends on whether the victim held political power, which is of course a relative question. This came up in a debate on whether John Lennon was murdered or assassinated.

IMHO if one accepts that definition it shouldn't depend on whether the victim actually held office (e.g. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Benazir Bhutto).
Stop! Murder us not, tonsured rumpots! Knife no one, fink!

skinem
Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 1197
Joined: Thu Apr 27, 2006 4:33 pm
Location: Middle Tennessee

Postby skinem » Sat Nov 29, 2008 1:53 am

I've always understood that the difference between assassination and murder is that only powerful or famous people are assassinated--us regular folks get murdered. Of course, that then begs the question how famous or powerful do you have to be before you you achieve that undesired level of distinction?

To me, the word assassinate also infers a more cold-blooded aspect, perhaps a more calculated purpose than run-of-the mill cold-blooded murder.

eberntson
Lexiterian
Posts: 457
Joined: Thu Feb 10, 2005 10:48 am
Location: Cambridge, Mass
Contact:

Postby eberntson » Tue Dec 09, 2008 2:48 pm

Perhaps, it does really depend on the motivations of the murder and the perspective of the person examining the murder. Being murdered by someone motivate by things other then hatred and passion that are personal could be considered assassination; i.e. for money, politics, ideology, etc.

It brings to mind that execution is a form of justified murder, but again perspective is involved. If someone in the opposition gets murdered it could be considered execution, but if someone is an Ally you would consider their murder an assassination. It is the difference between justified execution or heinous assassination. Murder in this case covers all manner of the sin but might also be considered more motivated by base personal emotion. :evil:

This just brings back the Nixon Era for me where assassination was used by many in the world to help in regime changes& in support of agendas. :x
EBERNTSON
Fear less, hope more;
eat less, chew more;
whine less, breathe more;
talk less, say more,
and all good things will be yours.
--R. Burns


Return to “Good Word Discussion”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 52 guests