_Meaning of Assassin._--Can any reader of the "N. & Q." inform me of the
correct meaning of the word "assassin?" The old story of the nation of the
assassins, under their prince the "Old Man of the Mountain," I reject as
absurd, although Gibbon adopts it. I have my own idea, which agrees with
Mr. Lane in his account of the modern Egyptians, who derives it from the
Arabic word "_Hushhusheen_, one drunk with hemp." M. Volney says it comes
from the Arabic "_Hass_, to kill, or lie in ambush to kill." Which of all
these derivations is correct?