Etymologically
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divano

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Pronunciation

Forms

divano m (plural divani)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Turkish divan (“council of state”), from Persian دیوان (dīvān, “register; chancery, council chamber”).[2][3][4][5] In the Ottoman Empire the word named the council, then the sofa on which the councillors sat along the walls of the chamber, and the register in which their decisions were written.[2][5][6] In the sense “sofa” it reached Italian through French divan (1742), and in the sense “book of poems” through Goethe's “West-östlicher Divan” (1819).[2][3][7] Wiktionary and Devoto give Arabic دِيوَان (dīwān) as the source, from the Persian word.[1][8] The same Persian word is the origin of dogana.[3][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Marin Sanudo's diaries record divan in 1529 and divano in 1533 for the Ottoman council, at the Sublime Porte.[2][4] Nocentini dates divan “reception hall” to 1503.[3]

Semantic evolution

Travel writers of the 16th and 17th centuries, such as Filippo Pigafetta and Pietro Della Valle, used the word for the pasha's audience and the council of state.[6][10] The literary sense “collected poems of an Eastern author” appears in Vincenzo Monti in 1819, the year of Goethe's collection.[2]

The sofa sense is first recorded in 1835 in the Milanese press: at first a long low seat without a back, with cushions, set against a wall, and today an upholstered seat for two or more people with back and arms.[2][10] Prati quotes Giusti for this sense.[9]

Timeline

  • 1503 – Divan “reception hall” (Nocentini).[3]
  • 1529 – Marin Sanudo writes divan for the Ottoman council.[2]
  • 1533 – Sanudo has the form divano.[2]
  • 1742 – French divan “sofa” is recorded.[2]
  • 1819 – Monti uses divano for a book of Eastern poetry.[2]
  • 1835 – Divano “sofa” appears in the Milanese press.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A sofa, couch, an upholstered seat for several people with back and arms: Dopo cena ci siamo addormentati sul divano.[4][11][5]
  2. (history) The council of ministers of the Ottoman Empire.[4][11]
  3. (literature) In Eastern literatures, a collection of an author's poems or works.[4]

Word family

  • divanetto
  • dogana
  • sofà
  • ottomana

Usage notes

A divano letto is a sofa bed.[4][11] sofà and canapè are synonyms.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  3. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  5. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  6. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 4, 853
  7. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1365
  8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  9. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 384
  10. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
  11. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier