device

An interesting word with a checkered past. The etymology alone is pretty fascinating. Because of my translation class, I have been thinking a lot (more) lately about connotative meaning of words. I have always been fascinated by connotations, because it's the locus of what is meant by "reading between the lines." Studying connotative meaning is an attempt to make explicit what is inherently implicit; manifesting the non-literal. These are the meanings I find interesting, and they are the meanings that help one become fluent in a language. Connotative meaning is the heart and soul of the creative use of words, and for this reason more than any other it is near to my heart.

What is the first association that comes to mind when you hear 'device'? What's the second association? My associations go like this:

1. intrauterine *
2. explosive *
3. MacGyver
4. airplane
5. mneumonic *

Here is the OED's etymology of the word device:

(dvas) Forms: 3-5 deuis, 4 Sc. deuiss, 4-5 deuys, Sc. dewis(e, -ys(s, -ice, -yce, 4-6 deuyse, diuis(e, dyuys(e, 4-7 deuise, devise, 5-6 deuyce, 6 Sc. devyiss, 6-7 divice, 5- device. [Here two original OF. and ME. words devis and devise have run together. The actual form device represents phonetically ME. devs, devs, a. OF. devis masc., ‘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’ (Cotgr.); in mod.F. ‘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 OF. devise fem. ‘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’ (Cotgr.); in mod.F. ‘action of dividing, that which divides or distinguishes, the motto of a shield, seal, etc., an adage’. The two French words correspond to Pr. devis, devisa, It. diviso, divisa, Romanic derivs. of dvs- ppl. stem of dvdre to divide: see DEVISE v.
The older word in ME. appears to have been devis, devys, but devise also appears from Caxton onward, and prob. earlier, at least in the phrase, to devise = F. 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 repr. of OF. devise, but also, in northern and late ME., and in the 16th c., as a frequent spelling of ME. devis, mod. device. In rimes it is generally possible to separate devise = devis, device, from devise proper, but in other positions it is often impossible; nor does the sense give much help, because in OF. 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, q.v. There is also some reason to think that in the 17th c. devises (-azz) was, in the south of England, used in the plural, when device (-as) was written or at least pronounced in the singular: cf. house sing., houses (-zz) pl. 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.]

Earliest written usage (for any meaning of the word) was in 1290! Interestingly, the sense in which I principally think of it ("intrauterine device," wherein 'device' is being used in this sense: "a mechanical contrivance (usually of a simple character) for some particular purpose") didn't come about until 1325, and it wasn't specifically applied to the modern IUD (meaning full uterine protection, as opposed to pessaries and the like, which have been around for thousands of years) until it was invented in 1909, but not marketed to the public until mid-century.

In the sense of "explosive device", the word wasn't used until 1931 with the development of nuclear technology. Curious, isn't it, that my first two associations are 20th century ones, even though the word's been around since the 13th century?