Divan

A divan or diwan (Persian: دیوان‎‎, dīvān) was a high governmental body in a number of Islamic states, or its chief official (see dewan).

The word, recorded in English since 1586, meaning "Oriental council of a state," from Turkish divan, from Arabic diwan.

It is first attested in Middle Persian spelled as dpywʾn and dywʾn, itself hearkening back, via Old Persian, Elamite and Akkadian, ultimately to Sumerian dub, clay tablet. The word was borrowed into Armenian as well as divan; on linguistic grounds this is placed after the 3rd century, which helps establish the original Middle Persian (and eventually New Persian) form was dīvān, not dēvān, despite later legends that traced the origin of the word to the latter form. The variant pronunciation dēvān however did exist, and is the form surviving to this day in Tajiki Persian.

In Arabic, the term was first used for the army registers, then generalized to any register, and by metonymy applied to specific government departments. The sense of the word evolved to "custom house" and "council chamber," then to "long, cushioned seat," such as are found along the walls in Middle-Eastern council chambers. The latter is the sense that entered European languages as divan (furniture).

The modern French, Spanish, and Italian words douane, aduana, and dogana, respectively (meaning "customs house"), also come from diwan.

The first dīwān was created under Caliph Umar (reigned 634–644 CE) in 15 A.H. (636/7 CE) or, more likely, 20 A.H. (641 CE). It comprised the names of the warriors of Medina who participated in the Muslim conquests and their families, and was intended to facilitate the payment of salary (ʿaṭāʾ, in coin or in rations) to them, according to their service and their relationship to Muhammad. This first army register (dīwān al-jund) was soon emulated in other provincial capitals like Basra, Kufa and Fustat.

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