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divan (dih-VAN, dih-VAHN) - n., (hist) a council of state in the Ottoman Empire, or the room it meets in; any council, committee, or commission; a large building used for some official or public purpose; a long, cushioned seat or sofa, usually without a back, placed against a wall.
That last is what I wanted, but the earlier senses were needed to get there. (It's also a dated word for a smoking room in a tobacconist shop, and a single-author collection of poems by a Persian author.) The council (which we got from French, from Ottoman Turkish dīvān) is the oldest current meaning, from Iranian Persian divân, from Classical Persian dēwān, from Middle Persian dēwān, account-book/archive/muster-roll/collected writings (from, ultimately, Sumerian 𒁾 dub, tablet) -- in other words the name for the council came from the paperwork they went over. The furniture name comes from its presence in such a council room, while the other senses are extensions of the council itself.
---L.
That last is what I wanted, but the earlier senses were needed to get there. (It's also a dated word for a smoking room in a tobacconist shop, and a single-author collection of poems by a Persian author.) The council (which we got from French, from Ottoman Turkish dīvān) is the oldest current meaning, from Iranian Persian divân, from Classical Persian dēwān, from Middle Persian dēwān, account-book/archive/muster-roll/collected writings (from, ultimately, Sumerian 𒁾 dub, tablet) -- in other words the name for the council came from the paperwork they went over. The furniture name comes from its presence in such a council room, while the other senses are extensions of the council itself.
---L.
