Etymograph

English

joy division

Calque of German Freudenabteilung.

Made of the words joy + division

Latin gaudeō ‘to be glad, rejoice’

Latin gaudium

Late Latin gaudia

Old French joie

Middle English joye ‘joy’

English joy

Latin dīvidō ‘to divide’

Latin dīvīsus ‘divided’

Latin dīvīsiō

Old French division

Middle English divisioun ‘division’

English division

The story

Popularized in the novella House of Dolls (1955), now considered largely fictional by many historians, although brothels did exist in some Nazi concentrations camps.

Today it means

noun A Nazi concentration camp brothel and its battalion of conscripted sex slaves.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / joy division