assassin

The story

1. Arabic · derived fromحَشَّاشِين“hashish users; low-lives”
2. Arabic · derived fromأَسَاسِيِّين“people who are faithful to the foundation [of the faith]”
3. Italian · borrowed fromassassino
4. French · borrowed fromassassin
5. English todayassassin

From either French assassin or Italian assassino, from Arabic أَسَاسِيِّين (ʔasāsiyyīn, “people who are faithful to the foundation [of the faith]”) and the folkloric etymology Arabic حَشَّاشِين (ḥaššāšīn, “hashish users; low-lives”). The mathematical sense was introduced by Bourbaki, playing on the notation operatorname Ass(M) and the fact that an associated prime is the annihilator of an element, and so is said to kill that element.

Words from the same roots