Basis for belief that a person can be "possessed by" a demon? I'm asking a rather technical question here. I'm wondering where the idea comes from that a person could be "possessed by" a demon; as in, the demon "possesses" / "owns" the person -- as opposed to the person simply "having" / "possessing" a demon which does things through and for the person.

I understand that there are examples in Scripture where demons give people supernatural abilities like special knowledge or unnatural strength. I also understand that there are examples in Scripture of demons doing things to people like speaking through them or throwing them around. However, my car does things to me that I don't want it to sometimes, but it doesn't "possess" me / "own" me. I own my car. It just doesn't always do what I want it to -- it could even cause me harm (if the brakes went out or something) -- but that has more to do with it not doing what I want it to than it "owning" me. Hopefully this distinction is making sense.

The reason I ask is that I looked up the Greek behind a couple of the instances of "demon possession" in Scripture (Luke 4:33; 8:27) and in both places it is translated to say that the person was possessed by a demon, but in both cases the Greek suggests that the person possessed the demon.

Is there anything explicit in Scripture which describes a person being "possessed by" a demon?  If not, what is the origin of this belief?
I think part of the issue may be the differing meanings of the word "possess".  We typically use the word today to mean "to own" or "to have"; but this is not the original meaning. Etymonline.com records the original meaning of the word (when it entered English at the end of the 1300s) as being "'to hold, occupy, reside in' (without regard to ownership)". The word is often used in a military sense; one can "possess" the territory of an enemy simply by occupying it and militarily controlling it.

In this sense, one could speak of a person as possessing a demon (one might "have a demon" in the same sense as one "has a cold"); but also one could speak of the demon as possessing (invading, residing in, and taking control of) a person.