Dīvān or dīwān (Arabic دیوان) was a high governmental body in a number of Islamic states, or its chief official (see Diwan (title)). Etymology The word's recorded in English since 1586, meaning "Oriental council of state," from Turkish divan, from Arabic diwan,'s a Middle-Persian loan-word in Arabic and was borrowed also at an earlier date into Armenian dīvān "bundle of written sheets, small book, collection of poems" (as in the Divan… (More on Divan)