The word ‘assassination’ was first used by Shakespeare in ‘Macbeth’. What are its origins?

An assassination is the murder of a public figure. It usually refers to the killing of a head of state or other prominent person for political motives. The reasons behind the killing could be to undermine a government, grab power, take revenge, get attention for a cause, or start a revolution.

The person who carries out an assassination is called an assassin. You may have played the action-adventure video game Assassin’s Creed. Or watched the film based on it. But have you ever wondered where the word “assassin” comes from?

The word assassin is possibly derived from the Arabic word hashshashin, which was used to refer to a religious sect of Ismaili Shi’a Muslims of the Nizari lineage that originated in Persia in the eleventh century ce. Its original leader was Hassan al-Sabbah, a missionary from Egypt. He ran his secret society of Hashshashins or Assassins from his stronghold in Alamut in northern Persia. At its peak the community extended to Egypt, Syria, Yemen, southern Iraq, southwest Iran and Afghanistan.

The Assassins would defeat their enemies not with a large army but by deploying individuals who would infiltrate enemy strongholds and use subterfuge to kill key military and political leaders. They were masters...

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