Messrs. M. R. assuredly imagine, that it is merely conjecturally that I have maintained that the Ismailites were designated by the name of Haschischin (Hashishin), by the Arabs: for they express themselves thus: “The oldest Italian and French authors commonly write Assassini, sometimes Heissessini, and Assissini; Joinville wrote it Haussaci. On these grounds, M. de Sacy doubts not, that the Arabic which has served as the type, was Haschisch (Hashish), signifying herb, in general, and in one particular meaning, hemp. Now, because the Arabs have long known how to prepare a beverage from hemp, which intoxicates and maddens like opium; and because this beverage has sometimes been made use of to stimulate fanatics to the deed, which the Musulmans call the holy war, namely, premeditated murder, M. de Sacy will have it, that the whole sect of the Ismailites, which supplied many of this kind of fanatics, was called Hachichi or Haschischi (Hashishi); that is, the herb people, but, in order to establish this, it is necessary, in the first place, to prove, that the use of this beverage was habitual and general among this sect; so much so, as to distinguish them from all other Arabs, who used it, but without becoming murderers like them. History teaches us nothing similar. It even appears, that this artificial means could only have been employed when their primitive zeal began to cool; but, moreover, the word haschisch (hashish), differs too strongly from the words Assassin, Heissessin, and Haussaci, to have served as their original root.”
These gentlemen will allow me to observe, that if they had read with attention my printed Memoir, and the report made by my esteemed colleague, M. Ginguené, of the labours of the Ancient History and Literature Class, since the 1st of July, 1808, they would have found that there was no conjecture in it at all on my part. In fact, it was in quoting different passages of Arabic authors, relating to the enterprises undertaken at different periods by the Syrian Ismailites against Saladin, that I proved to demonstration, that those writers employed indifferently, in the same work, the names Ismailites, Batenites, and Haschischin (Hashishin), as synonymous; and that the chief of this horde of ruffians, was called the Possessor of the Haschischa (Hashisha). I even took occasion to observe, that the Byzantine writers called the Assassins Chasisioi; and that the Jew, Benjamin of Tudela, names them in Hebrew, Haschischin (Hashishin).
These facts being incontestable, I had to inquire what was this Haschisch or Haschischa (Hashish or Hashisha), possessed by the chief of the Ismailites, from which these latter derived their name of Haschischin (Hashishin); and, certainly, it needed no great stretch of imagination, to discover the haschiseha of the Ismailites in that of the Syrians and Egyptians of the present day. I afterwards showed, by very positive historical testimony, that, at the period when the Assassins signalized themselves by their atrocities and murders, the use of intoxicating preparations made with hemp had not yet been introduced among the Musulmans; lastly, I proved by a host of facts, and the testimony of Marco Polo, that the hashish was not used among the Ismailites for the purpose of throwing those to whom it was administered, into a state of madness and frenzy, during the continuance of which they performed the most barbarous actions, almost consciously; but, that it was a secret known only to the chief of the sect, and which he employed, to deprive for a time of the use of their reason, those young men, whom he wished, by means of every kind of seduction, which could inflame the imagination and exalt the sense, to inspire with blind obedience to his behests.
The chief reason why the authors of the letter which I am controverting, have a difficulty in admitting that the word Assassins, or Assissins, is actually derived from Haschischin, is, that they cannot believe that western writers could have substituted the articulation of the Arabic Sin, that is, of an s, for that of Schin (Shin), which answers to our ch (sh. Eng.); but they have perhaps forgotten, that, at the epoch of the Crusades, the Latin language was the common idiom of writers throughout Europe; and that, in that language, the sound of the Arabic Shin, cannot be expressed. We must also add, the Arabic Shin is not in general pronounced so strongly as our ch, (sh, Eng.); and that the Arabians themselves have often used it for the Greek sigma, and the Latin S, of Latin names; such as Pontus, Orosius, Philippus, Busiris, &c., and lastly, that the Moors in Spain, in writing the Castilian in Arabic characters, made use of the Shin to express s; for example, in the words los cielos y las tierras. (See Notices et Extraits des Manuscrits, tome IV. page 631 & 642.) Perhaps, we have an example of the substitution of our s, for the Arabic shin, in the word Sarrasins (Saracens).
Here, again, I am at variance with the authors of the letter, who reject the etymologies which have been hitherto proposed, of the name of the Sarrasins (Saracens), in order to derive it from Sarrag or Sarradj, a word, meaning, according to them, a saddle-man, and, consequently, a horse-man. These gentlemen will not take it ill, if I deny the consequence, and if I remark, that sarradj, or, as it is otherwise pronounced, sarrag, never did, and never could, according to the analogy of the Arabic language, signify any thing but a man who makes or sells saddles for horses, or a stable-boy who takes care of these animals’ harness. As I do not wish to be believed on my word alone, I shall quote Golius, who has not omitted the word Sarrag, as is asserted in the postscript to the letter, and who translates it thus: Qui confecit ephippia et ea quæ ad equi et currus apparatum spectans (one who makes saddles, and every thing belonging to the harness of horses and carriages). Menins, who translates it into Latin, by Ephippiarius, qui Ephippia et quæ ad ea spectant conficit—qui curam equorum et apparatus eorum ephippii et phalerarum habet; in Italian, by sellaro, palfreniere; and in French, by sellier, palfrenier. Germanus de Silesia, who makes it correspond with the Italian sellaro: lastly, Father F. Cannes, who, in his Spanish and Arabic Dictionary, makes use of the Spanish word Sillero, to translate it. The objections which Messrs. M. R. make against one of the etymologies of the word Sarrasins (Saracens), which several learned men have derived from the word Sarikin, robbers, are destitute of weight. It is not true, that we cannot admit this etymology, without, at the same time, supposing that the Arabs called themselves robbers; because, in fact, the Arabs known to the Greeks and Latins by the denomination of Sarrasins (Saracens), did not give themselves that name at all, but received it from the neighbouring tribes, who may very well have termed them brigands. This objection has no more force against those who derive the name of Sarrasins, Saracens, Saraceni, from sharki, or sharaki, that is, eastern. If this latter be the true origin of the name, it is beyond a doubt that it was first given to some Arabs, by nations inhabiting a more western country, and that it might afterwards have been applied to the greater part of the nation. As, according to either hypothesis, the word Sarrasins (Saracens), will have an Arabian origin, there will be some probability in supposing, that this denomination, which succeeded that of the Scenites, was first given to the Nomade Arabs by the civilized tribes settled in the north-east of Arabia, and who recognised the Roman authority. In either case, if these etymologies appear too forced, I should prefer confessing, that we are ignorant of the origin of the word, than deriving it from an expression which is in no respect proper to characterize the Arabian nation.
I shall conclude, by observing, as I did in my Memoir, that, perhaps, the word Hashishin, or Hashashin, for both are used, did not properly designate all the Ismailites, but was peculiarly applied to those who were destined to the Assassin service, and who were also known by the name of Fedawi (or devoted). “I have not, up to this day,” I said, at the conclusion of my Memoir, “met with a sufficient number of passages in which this word is employed, to hazard a decided opinion on the subject; but I am led to believe, that among the Ismailites, those only were termed Hashishin, who were specially educated to commit murder, and who were, by the use of the Hashish, disposed to an absolute resignation to the will of their chief; this, however, may not have prevented the denomination from being applied to Ismailites collectively, especially among the Occidentals.”
Accept, &c. &c.
Sylvestre de Sacy.
THE END.