divan

divan
\ \ [16] The word divan has a long and spectacularly variegated semantic history. It started out as Persian dēvān, which originally meant ‘small book’. This came to be used specifically for ‘account book’, and eventually for ‘accountant’s office’. From this its application broadened out to cover various official chambers and the bodies which occupied them, such as tax offices, customs collectors, courts, and councils of state. And finally it developed to ‘long seat’, of the sort which lined the walls of such Oriental chambers. The word carried these meanings with it via Arabic dīwān and Turkish divān into the European languages, and English acquired most of them as a package deal from French divan or Italian devano (it did not, however, include the ‘customs’ sense which, via the Turkish variant duwan, survives in French douane, Italian dogana, Spanish aduana, etc). The 19th-century sense ‘smoking lounge’ seems to be an exclusively European development.

Word origins - 2ed. . 2005.

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  • divan — divan …   Dictionnaire des rimes

  • divanələnmə — «Divanələnmək»dən f. is …   Azərbaycan dilinin izahlı lüğəti

  • divanələşmə — «Divanələşmək»dən f. is …   Azərbaycan dilinin izahlı lüğəti

  • DIVAN.TV — DIVAN.TV  это мультимедийный сервис интерактивного телевидения, созданный одноимённой компанией на Украине. Автором идеи и главным инвестором создания принципиально нового на рынке телекоммуникаций сервиса стал украинский венчурный… …   Википедия

  • DIVAN — ou D 壟W Mot d’origine persane (dev ) ou arabe (d 稜w n ) qui a désigné, d’une part un recueil de poésie (plus rarement un recueil de prose), d’autre part un registre et de là, peu après l’avènement de l’isl m, un bureau où étaient enregistrés les… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • divan — DIVÁN, divane, s.n. I. Canapea fără spătar, pe care se poate şedea sau dormi. II. 1. (În Imperiul Otoman) Consiliu cu atribuţii politice, administrative şi juridice, alcătuit din cei mai înalţi demnitari; (în ţările româneşti) sfat domnesc. ♢… …   Dicționar Român

  • Dîvân — Divan Cette page d’homonymie répertorie les différents sujets et articles partageant un même nom …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Diván — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Este artículo incorpora texto de la Encyclopædia Britannica de 1911 (dominio público). Un diván es un tipo de mueble para sentarse, similar al sofá. Originalmente, en Oriente (especialmente en el Imperio Otomano), un …   Wikipedia Español

  • Divan — Di*van , n. [Per. d[=i]w[=a]n a book of many leaves, an account book, a collection of books, a senate, council: cf. Ar. daiw[=a]n, F. divan.] 1. A book; esp., a collection of poems written by one author; as, the divan of Hafiz. [Persia] [1913… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • divan — 1580s, Oriental council of state, from Turk. divan, from Arabic diwan, from Pers. devan bundle of written sheets, small book, collection of poems (as in the Divan i Hafiz ), related to debir writer. Sense evolved through book of accounts, to… …   Etymology dictionary

  • divan — DIVAN. s. m. On appelle ainsi en Turquie Le Conseil du Grand Seigneur. Cela fut proposé au Divan …   Dictionnaire de l'Académie Française 1798

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