Note 325 — THE TALE OF THE KAZI AND THE BHANG-EATER.[224] (continued 2)

Arab. “Fidawiyah,” sing. “Fidáwi” = lit. one who gives his life to a noble cause, a forlorn hope, esp. applied to the Ismai’liyah race, disciples of the “Assassin” Hasan-i-Sabáh. See De Sacy, “Mémoire sur les Assassins Mém. de l’Instit,” etc. iv. 7 et seqq. Hence perhaps a castaway, a “perdido,” one careless of his life. I suspect, however, that it is an Egyptianised form of the Pers. “Fidá’i” = a robber, a murderer. The Lat. catalogue prefers “Sicarius,” which here cannot be the meaning.