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Origin and history of addiction

addiction(n.)

c. 1600, "tendency, inclination, penchant" (a less severe sense now obsolete); 1640s as "state of being (self)-addicted" to a habit, pursuit, etc., from Latin addictionem (nominative addictio) "an awarding, a delivering up," noun of action from past-participle stem of addicere "to deliver, award; devote, consecrate, sacrifice" (see addict (v.)).

The sense of "compulsion and need to take a drug as a result of prior use of it" is by 1906, in reference to opium (there is an isolated instance from 1779 with reference to tobacco).

addiction

also from c. 1600

Entries linking to addiction

addict(v.)

1530s (implied in addicted) "to devote or give up (oneself) to a habit or occupation," from Latin addictus, past participle of addicere "to deliver, award, yield; make over, sell," properly "give one's assent to," but figuratively "to devote, consecrate; sacrifice, sell out, betray, abandon." This is from ad "to" (see ad-) + dicere, which was usually "to say, declare" (from PIE root *deik- "to show," also "pronounce solemnly"), but also could be "adjudge, allot."

"It is a yielding to impulse, and generally a bad one" [Century Dictionary]. Old English glossed Latin addictus literally with forscrifen. Related: Addicted; addicting.

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    dependence
    early 15c., dependaunce, "consequence, result, relation of a conclusion to a premise or an effect to a cause," from Old French dépendance (from dependre; see depend) and from Medieval Latin dependentia. Originally also dependance (which is the older of the two modern spellings),
    dependency
    1590s, "condition of being logically dependent; relation of a thing or person to that by which it is supported;" 1610s, "that which depends for its existence upon something else;" see dependent + -cy. Originally also dependancy, on the French model, but the Latinate form graduall
    habituation
    mid-15c., "action of forming a habit; customary practice," from Medieval Latin habituationem (nominative habituatio), noun of action from past-participle stem of Late Latin habituare "to bring into a condition or habit of the body," from Latin habitus "condition, appearance, dres
    dry
    Dry out in the drug addiction sense is from 1967. Dry up "stop talking" is by 1853....
    cocaine
    Cocainism "addiction to cocaine" is recorded by 1885....
    Jones
    The slang sense "intense desire, addiction" (1968) probably arose from earlier use of Jones as a synonym for "heroin," presumably...
    clean
    lewd" (as in good, clean fun) is from 1867; that of "not carrying anything forbidden" is from 1938; that of "free of drug addiction...
    institute
    early 14c., "to establish in office, appoint," from Latin institutus, past participle of instituere "to set up, put in place; arrange; found, establish; appoint, designate; govern, administer; teach, instruct," from in- "in" (from PIE root *en "in") + statuere "establish, to caus
    thank
    Old English þancian, þoncian "to give thanks, thank, to recompense, to reward," from Proto-Germanic *thankōjanan (source also of Old Saxon thancon, Old Norse þakka, Danish takke, Old Frisian thankia, Old High German danchon, Middle Dutch, Dutch, German danken "to thank"), from *t
    try
    c. 1300, "examine judiciously, discover by evaluation, test;" mid-14c., "sit in judgment of," also "attempt to do," from Anglo-French trier (13c.), from Old French trier "to pick out, cull" (12c.), from Gallo-Roman *triare, of unknown origin. The ground sense is "separate out (th

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