Overview
From classical Latin, addicere meant roughly “to be given over” and was used in the context of someone being given over to a creditor as a slave to pay off their debts. It also was used in the context of divination to reveal the will of gods as a means of describing the strong devotion it took to perfom augury rituals. In its simplest uses, it could just mean to have a strong preference towards something.
History and Etymology
John Frith (1503-1533) is the first author we’ve found to use “addict”:
“Be not partially addict to the one or the other, But judge them by the scripture”
In this case, he uses “addict” in a way we might consider interchangeable with “biased”. As the word caught on amidst an early Protestant wave that sought new terms for concepts to describe their theology, it was seen as an action rather than a force. You could “addict” yourself to something, rather than “addiction” seizing control of you. In doing so, it occupied a space between an irresistible compulsion and a freely voluntary choice.