Etymology[edit]

In Latin, Sicarii is the plural form of Sicarius "dagger-man", "dagger-wielder". Sica, possibly from Proto-Albanian *tsikā (whence Albanian thika, "knife"), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱey- ("to sharpen") possibly via Illyrian.^[5][6] In later Latin usage, "sicarius" was also the standard term for a murderer (see, e.g., the Lex Cornelia de Sicariis et Veneficiis),^[7] and to this day "sicario" is a salaried assassin in Spanish^[8] and a commissioned murderer in Italian^[9] and Portuguese.^[10]