The Second Life of Foreign Words in the Russian Language
Many words from other languages have made incredible journeys to Russia, and live here with completely different meanings.
1. Divan (sofa), Turkish
In the Persian language, dīwān meant “a list”, “a roster” – meaning lists with notes on the civil and military service of Persian, Turkish or Arabic officials, including noblemen and military men.
With time, it has come to denote (обозначить) the office where such lists were made, more broadly- a congregation (собрание) or panel of officials. In the Eastern tradition, members of such congregations usually sat on long, low sofas covered with soft pillows. Throughout history, Russians did a lot of business with the Turkish and Arabs, so in Russian, диван became the word for “sofa”.
