addictus

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [adˈdɪk.tʊs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [adˈdik.tus]^[1]

Forms

addictus m (genitive addictī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is the perfect participle of addīcō “to assign, award, hand over”, from ad- and dīcō (“to say”).^[2][1] De Vaan traces ⟨dīcō⟩ to Proto-Italic *deik-e/o- (“to say”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a noun, a debtor handed over to his creditor, it occurs in Plautus' Bacchides, Varro, Livy and Gellius.^[4] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

As an adjective it meant assigned, given over to something, devoted, a slave of, and bent on a disgraceful course, as in Horace.^[2] As a noun, addictus or addicta, it was a person enslaved for debt or theft, adjudged to a creditor, as in Plautus and Livy.^[2][4]

In Medieval Latin a fourth-declension addictus meant an adjudication, assignment.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a debt slave.^[4][5]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of being devoted.^[2][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of debtors.^[4][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Assigned, devoted to; a slave of; bent on.^[2]

Noun

1. A person enslaved for debt or theft.^[2][4]
2. (Medieval Latin) An adjudication, assignment.^[6]

Related words

• addīcō
• dīcō
• English addict

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill