'deliberately-divided' originates from Modern English, built from 'deliberately' (from Latin 'deliberatus') and 'divided' (from Latin 'dividere'), where 'deliberatus' meant 'considered' and 'dividere' meant 'to separate'.

'deliberately' came into English via Latin 'deliberare' > past participle 'deliberatus'; 'divide' comes from Latin 'dividere' > Old French 'diviser' > Middle English 'dividen', eventually forming the modern adjective 'divided'. The hyphenated compound 'deliberately-divided' is a recent combinatory form in Modern English used to create an attributive modifier.

Initially the components meant 'carefully considered' and 'to separate'; over time the combined phrase has come to be used to mean 'intentionally separated' in contemporary usage.