Addiction etymology
Addiction etymology, or the historical roots of the word "addiction", are fascinating.
Shakespeare was the first to use "addiction" in the modern sense, in his play Henry V, in reference to the king:
| “ | his addiction was to courses vain. | ” |
By that the Archbishop in this play was observing that the King was inclined to activities that reinforced his own vanity.
Around the beginning of the 20th century the word "addict" switched from an adjective to a noun, to refer primarily to drug dependency.[1]
Latin and Greek roots
The Latin root is most common cited as the origin for "addiction": "addictus" (its past tense is addicere).
But the earlier Greek root, "adikia", is the one used in the New Testament. This term is used 25 times in 24 verses in the Greek New Testament (in 5 unique forms of the word), according to Strong's.[2]