devicen.

Etymology: Here two original Old French and Middle English words devis and devise have run together. The actual form device represents phonetically Middle English devīs , devȳs , < Old French devis masculine, ‘division, partition, separation, difference, disposition, wish, desire, will’ (Godefroy); ‘speech, talke, discourse, a conference, or communication; deuising, conferring, or talking together; also, a deuice, inuention; disposition or appointment of’ (Cotgrave); in modern French ‘action of discoursing, conversation, talk, specification (of work to be done)’. But the form devise (when not a mere variant spelling of device : see below) represents Old French devise feminine ‘division, separation, difference, heraldic device, will, testament, plan, design, wish, desire, liking, opinion, conversation, conference, manner, quality, kind’ (Godefroy); ‘a deuice, posie, embleme, conceit, coat or cognizance borne; an inuention; a diuision; bound, meere, or marke diuiding land’ (Cotgrave); in modern French ‘action of dividing, that which divides or distinguishes, the motto of a shield, seal, etc., an adage’. The two French words correspond to Provencal devis , devisa , Italian diviso , divisa , Romanic derivatives of dīvīs- participial stem of dīvīdĕre to divide: see devise v.The older word in Middle English appears to have been devis , devys , but devise also appears from Caxton onward, and probably earlier, at least in the phrase, to devise = French à devise (sense 12). It is however very difficult to distinguish the two words, since devise , devyse occurs not only as the proper spelling of the representation of Old French devise , but also, in northern and late Middle English, and in the 16th cent., as a frequent spelling of Middle English devis , modern device . In rhymes it is generally possible to separate devise = devis , device , < devise proper, but in other positions it is often impossible; nor does the sense give much help, because in Old French devis and devise partly coincided in meaning, while the English distinctions do not always agree with the French. In later times device gradually became the accepted form in all senses, except in that of ‘testamentary bequest’, which still remains devise n. There is also some reason to think that in the 17th cent. devises/-aɪzɪz/ was, in the south of England, used in the plural, when device /-aɪs/ was written or at least pronounced in the singular: compare house singular, houses /-zɪz/ plural. The sense-development had to a great extent taken place before the words were adopted in English, so that here the historical and logical orders do not agree.