From Persian 'divan' (register, council, hall) — evolving from 'documents' to 'council room' to 'sofa.'
A long low sofa without a back or arms; historically, a council chamber or court in the Ottoman Empire.
From Turkish 'divan,' from Persian 'dīvān' (a register of accounts, a book of poems, a council of state, a long cushioned seat in a council hall). The Persian word is of uncertain ultimate origin — possibly from Old Iranian *daibī-dāna- (document house) or related to Avestan 'daēva' (a spirit, later a demon) in the sense of a record of supernatural judgments. In the Ottoman Empire a 'divan' was the imperial council, the supreme administrative body; the room where it met was furnished
The word 'divan' underwent one of the most dramatic semantic shifts in English: from 'a register of written documents' (Old Persian) → 'the office where documents were kept' → 'the governing council that met there' → 'the cushioned bench in the council chamber' → 'a sofa.' The French word 'douane' (customs office) also derives from 'dīvān,' through the sense of 'government registry office.' Hafez's collected poetry is called his 'Dīvān,' using the literary