In his book The Travels of Marco Polo, Rustichello da Pisa tells a story claiming that there was once a man known as the “Old Man of the Mountain,” who built a garden in the mountains and designed it exactly according to the precise description of Paradise given in the Koran. He would then abduct people, drug them with hashish, and take them to the garden. Then, when they woke up, he would convince them that it was Paradise itself. Then, after they had lived in the garden for a while, the Old Man of the Mountain would tell them that they needed to start holding up their end of the bargain; he would send them out to go kill certain people, telling them that, if they died in the attempt, they would only return to the garden. These people were known as hashishiyyin, which is Arabic for “hashish-smokers.” This is the origin of our modern English word assassin.
In India, during the early modern period, there was a secret cult of robbers and murderers known as the Thugs, who worshipped the Hindu goddess Kali, the goddess of power and destruction. The Thugs would join caravans of travelers and gain their trust. Then, once their fellow travelers were no longer suspicious of them, they would murder them and steal all their possessions. Accounts of the Thugs’ murderous activities were first recorded in English as early as 1665. The Thugs were finally stamped out by the British Thuggee and Dacoity Department in the 1830s under the leadership of William Henry Sleeman. By the 1870s, the cult had been totally eradicated. Their name is the source of our modern English word thug.
ABOVE: Watercolor illustration showing three Thugs strangling a traveler
The word hooligan originates from the name of a gang of young Irishmen known as the “Hooligan Boys,” who caused trouble in London during the early 1890s. In August of 1892, a member of the gang committed a shocking murder in the London district of Lambeth. The press at the time seized upon the name “Hooligan,” using it as a byword for murder and cruelty. On August 22, 1898, The Daily Graphic, a London newspaper, applied the word “Hooliganism” to the recent surge in crime, declaring that, “The avalanche of brutality which, under the name of ‘Hooliganism’, … has cast such a dire slur on the social records of South London.”
In 1900, Fredrick Burr Opper introduced a cartoon character known as the “Happy Hooligan,” which helped popularize the usage of the term. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle used the word in his short story “The Adventure of the Six Napoleons,” which was one of his mysteries about Sherlock Holmes: “It seemed to be one of those senseless acts of Hooliganism which occur from time to time, and it was reported to the constable on the beat as such.” Five years later, H. G. Wells used the word in his novel Tono-Bungay: “Three energetic young men of the hooligan type, in neck-wraps and caps, were packing wooden cases with papered-up bottles, amidst much straw and confusion.” Newspapers even applied the word to suffragettes, calling them “female hooligans.”
The word barbarian comes from the ancient Greek word βάρβαρος, which originally referred to any person who could not speak Greek. The word was an example of onomatopoeia; when Greek settlers heard foreigners speaking, everything they said sounded like “bar bar bar bar.” Originally, the word was non-pejorative and had no negative connotations. Then, during the early fifth century B.C., when the Persian Empire had increased hegemony over Asia Minor, the word began to become frequently applied specifically to the Persians, who were seen as soft, weak, and effeminate.
Later, when the Romans conquered Greece, they took over the word barbaros and began using it to refer to anyone who could not speak Latin or Greek. The Romans often applied the word barbaros to the Germans, who lived north of the Roman border and who were seen as fierce, warlike, and uncivilized. They were stereotyped as being archetypal “noble savages.” Then, during the collapse of the West Roman Empire in the fourth and fifth centuries A.D., various Germanic and Hunnic tribes invaded Italy and caused widespread devastation. These tribes were, naturally, of course, termed barbaroi, which finally cemented the negative connotation behind the word once and for all.
The word tyrant comes from the ancient Greek word τύραννος, which originally simply referred to a ruler who came to power without inheriting it from his father. The word originally had no negative or pejorative meaning. In fact, many Greek tyrants during the sixth century B.C. were actually populists who had a strong support among the common people.
According to The Constitution of the Athenians by Aristoteles, the tyrant Peisistratos rose to power in Athens atop a cloud of popular support during the mid-500s B.C. Peisistratos, after several failed attempts at a coup, managed to successfully consolidate his power and soon became renowned for his generosity and kindness. When Peisistratos died in either 528 or 527 B.C., he was succeeded by his two sons: Hipparchos and Hippias, who, for the most part, continued the legacy of kindness begun by their forbearer. Then, in 514 B.C., following a complex intrigue, Hipparchos was murdered by two young men named Harmodios and Aristogeiton. Harmodios was killed while attempting to escape and Aristogeiton was captured.
Hippias, driven mad with grief over his brother’s death, ordered for Aristogeiton to be brutally tortured, demanding to know who else had been involved in the plot. Aristogeiton told Hippias that he would tell him who else had been involved in the plot, but that he needed Hippias to shake his hand in order to ensure his good faith. When Hippias shook his hand, Aristogeiton taunted him for shaking hands with his brother’s murderer. Hippias responded by stabbing Aristogeiton to death immediately.
After this incident, Hippias transformed from the moderate ruler he had been prior to the murder into a true tyrant in the modern sense of the word. Driven by grief and paranoia, he ordered a large number of executions and banishments. The Athenian people grew to hate their ruler and detest him. Finally, in 508 B.C., the Spartans invaded Athens under the leadership of their king Kleomenes and overthrew Hippias. The Athenians later vilified Hipparchos and Hippias as diabolical “tyrants” and romanticized Harmodios and Aristogeiton as the noble and heroic “Tyrannicides”; they even erected a statue of Harmodios and Aristogeiton in the Agora.
ABOVE: Roman copy of the Greek statue of Harmodios and Aristogeiton in the Agora, depicting them as the two “Tyrannicides”
Our word despot comes from the ancient Greek word δεσπότης, which originally meant “master of the house.” The word, once again, had no negative connotation or pejorative meaning. The word was later transferred into medieval Latin as despota. The word began to acquire a much stronger pejorative meaning as it was used by the Christian residents of the Ottoman Empire. From medieval Latin, the word entered into French as despot. During the French Revolution, the word was applied King Louis XVI and its associations with cruelty and oppression became forever ingrained into the word’s very meaning.
ABOVE: The “Despot” himself: King Louis XVI
Further Reading
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php
As always, very interesting and imformative!
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I appreciate the quality of research and writing. Thanks for sharing.
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