Bank and post office

The list for two counters everybody ends up at. One word on it shares an ancestor with an English word so ordinary that the link is invisible. La devise and « device » are both the old French verb deviser, to divide and so to design — a shield was divided into fields, and the little motto painted under it was the devise. French kept the motto: « Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité » est la devise de la République. From a motto stamped on a coin it moved to the coin, and la devise is now the currency — je voudrais changer des devises at a bank window. English took the design branch instead and arrived at the gadget. So the word at the exchange desk looks like a piece of equipment and is a coat of arms. Currency as a substance, rather than a named one, is la monnaie, which is also the change in your hand.