"Deveni el" or "veni el"?

Question

I've seen deveni used in places where it seems veni would work as well.

I originally learned Mi venas el Usono.

If I say Mi devenas el Usono, how does the meaning change? "I originally come from the U.S."?

Could I say, for example, "Mi venas el Georgio, sed devenas el Luziano"?

Answer 1

It's about the same as the difference between "come from" and "originate from." Often the meaning doesn't change much, but sometimes it can.

PIV (vortaro.net) sums it up pretty well.

1. veni de ia origino, fonto: el sama tero devenas, saman sukon entenas^Z; ilia reganto devenas el ilia propra mezo^X; la itala lingvo devenas de latino; antaŭe la lumgaso devenis nur de la karbo.
2. Esti ido de: la hebreoj estas Izraelidoj, ĉar ili devenas de Izraelo^Z; mi devenas de Tantalo^Z; ilia devenantaro estas antaŭ iliaj okuloj^X.
3. Rezulti de: la patologia graseco devenas de abunda manĝo k de manko de movado^B.

I didn't find many examples of veni and deveni used in the same context.

• Amanda ne devenis de la vilaĝo. Ŝi venis de iu fora, arbara farmeto

Her origin was not in the village, but rather she changed her location from a distant farm to her current location in the village.

• La du kontraktantoj rapide venis al konsento. La monon, devenantan de la vendo de lia bieno, la bankiero utiligis por aĉeti alian kampodomon

The two people parties quickly came to an agreement. The money derived from the sale of the estate was used by the banker to buy another country house.