DIVAN (Arabic divan)  , a Persian word, derived probably from Aramaic, meaning a " counting-house, office, bureau, tribunal" ; thence, on one side, the " account-books and registers" of such an office, and, on another, the " room where the office or tribunal sits "; thence, again, from " account-book, register," a " book containing the poems of an author," arranged in a definite order (alphabetical according to the rhyme-words), perhaps because of the saying, " Poetry is the register (divan) of the Arabs," and from " bureau, tribunal," " a long seat, formed of a mattress laid against the side of the room, upon the floor or upon a raised structure or frame, with cushions to lean against " (Lane, Lexicon, 930 f.) . All these meanings existed and exist, especially " bureau, tribunal," " book of poems " and " seat "1; but the order of derivation may have been slightly different . The word first appears under the caliphate of Omar (A.D . 634-644) . Great wealth, gained from the Moslem conquests, was pouring into Medina, and a system of business management and administration became necessary . This was copied from the Persians and given the Persian name, divan." Later, as the state became more complicated, the term was extended over all the government bureaus . The divan of the Sublime Porte was for long the council of the empire, presided over by the grand vizier . See Von Kremer, Culturgeschichte des Orients, i . 64, 198 . (D . B . MA.) 1 The divan in this sense has been known in Europe certainly since about the middle of the 18th century .

It was fashionable, roughly speaking, from 182o to 185o, wherever the romantic

movement in literature penetrated . All the boudoirs of that generation were garnished with divans; they even spread to coffee-houses, which were sometimes known as ` divans " or " Turkish divans "; and a " cigar divan" remains a familiar expression .