divan (n.)

A divan is a low sofa, usually without a back. The word began in Persian, where devan meant a bundle of written sheets or a small book.¹

In Arabic, dīwān moved from a book of accounts to the office that kept them, and from there to a government office and the council that met in its chamber.¹² English first took the word from Turkish in the 1580s, for a council of state.¹

The seat came from the room. The long cushioned benches along the walls of a council chamber were called divans, and English has used the word for a sofa since 1702.¹

Two other senses went their own way. A divan is also a poet’s collected poems, as in the Divan of Hafez.¹² In Italy the Arabic word became dogana, earlier doana, the customs house.³

He fell asleep on the divan with the book still open.