DIVAN (de-vahn' or di-van'), Persian word, probably from Aramaic, meaning a "counting-house, 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 (diwdn) 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, 93o et seq.). All these meanings existed and exist, especially "bureau, tribunal," "book of poems," and "seat"; but the order of derivation may have been slightly different. The word first appears under the caliphate of Omar (A.D. . Later, as the state became more complicated, the term was extended over all the government bureaux. The divan of the Sublime Porte was for long the coun cil of the empire, presided over by the grand vizier. (See DEWAN; also Von Kremer, Culturgeschichte des Orients, i. 64, DO.)