www.alphadictionary.com

• hash •

Pronunciation: hæsh • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Verb

Meaning: 1. To chop meat or other victuals into small pieces for cooking. 2. To make a mess of things. 3. To talk over thoroughly, as 'to hash out the details of a project'.

Notes: Today's verb alone refers to irregularly, finely chopped meat, but may be used to refer to other foods so prepared, as 'hash(ed) potatoes'. The noun hash by itself will be taken to mean "chopped meat". The original spam is a canned hash. Perhaps because they are all related, the hatch marks on the sleeves of soldiers indicating rank of years of service are commonly referred to as 'hash marks'.

In Play: Before dinner you may have to hash out who is going to hash the meat and potatoes. This could be a critical discussion since the wrong person could make hash of the hash. To settle someone's hash is to make a mess of him.

Word History: Today's is another word woven back and forth between us Germanic peoples and the French. It comes from Old French hacher "to chop, mince", itself borrowed from Middle German hacken "to hack". After French had smoothed it out a bit, the English reborrowed it as hatch "cutting or inlaying lines", as 'the hatch marks on a football field' or 'the sleeves of a military uniform'. Later it was borrowed again as today's word. Although we now use a meat cleaver to chop hash, the original tool was a hatchet, another word borrowed from the French. The original root also went on to become haggis, referring to that wonderful Scottish dish made from hashed sheep by-products (heart, lungs, liver, and suet) cooked in the stomach of often the selfsame sheep. See you in Kiltland!

Is the smoked kind related?

I've heard the smoked kind is related to the Iranian terrorists
known as the 'assassins' who smoked hashish before going
on their raids. Don't know how true that is.

I grew up with the resulting dish, a meal in itself, called hash. It would be sort of like a stew without the liquid, perhaps including hashed meat, potatoes, onions, etc.

Currently hashmarks or pound signs are a strong communication tool whose meaning ois dependent on context. #thanx

According to Etymonline,LukeJavan8 is almost correct.
"hash" is a shortened form of "hashish" which in turn derives from Arabic (not Farsi) "hashish"
https://www.etymonline.com/word/hashish

It is etymologically related to "assassin"
https://www.etymonline.com/word/assassin
which is from "hashishiyyin," "hashish-users" and was the term applied to a Muslim sect in Lebanon during the Crusades (not Persia as Iran was then known) that were said to consume hashish prior to going out to kill their opponents.

According to Etymonline,LukeJavan8 is almost correct.
"hash" is a shortened form of "hashish" which in turn derives from Arabic (not Farsi) "hashish"
https://www.etymonline.com/word/hashish

It is etymologically related to "assassin"
https://www.etymonline.com/word/assassin
which is from "hashishiyyin," "hashish-users" and was the term applied to a Muslim sect in Lebanon during the Crusades (not Persia as Iran was then known) that were said to consume hashish prior to going out to kill their opponents.

Curious and most appreciated. I wonder how the Persian
connection became part of my memory. Lebanon is a long
ways away. Thanks for the update.

The wonderful meat, potato and onion dish my mother dealt out makes me salivate more than Pavlov's dog did.

The original assassins were wont to take hashhash [opium] to give them courage to assassinate their enemies.

I think the neat symbol # has been kidnapped by social media nerds to mean what it never meant before. In my dotage, I have no idea what they mean by it nor do I care.

I'm with you, I don't know, and don't care. It's 'pound' to me.

According to Etymonline,LukeJavan8 is almost correct.
"hash" is a shortened form of "hashish" which in turn derives from Arabic (not Farsi) "hashish"
https://www.etymonline.com/word/hashish

It is etymologically related to "assassin"
https://www.etymonline.com/word/assassin
which is from "hashishiyyin," "hashish-users" and was the term applied to a Muslim sect in Lebanon during the Crusades (not Persia as Iran was then known) that were said to consume hashish prior to going out to kill their opponents.

Curious and most appreciated. I wonder how the Persian
connection became part of my memory. Lebanon is a long
ways away. Thanks for the update.

I was with folks who were watching Disney's "Prince of Persia"
with Jake Gyllanhal (?) and there were Assasins doped up on
some drug before going into battle. Wonder how Disney had
the same misbelief I had: these people in Iran/Persia.

For an accurate account of the relation of hash to assassin: assassinate.

NatGeo now pubishes a magazine called
National Geographic HISTORY. In the November/December2018
issue there is an article about the group which originated
in Iran/Persia and filtered to Syria/Lebanon calling themselves
the Assassins. Our discussion above is all correct, but the
connection to Iran is also correct, according to the magazine.