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 is recorded in English since 1586, meaning "Oriental council of state," from Turkish divan, from Arabic diwan, is 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 Diva… (More on Divan)