Wikipedia's first sentence called it “word used since ancient times into the present to refer to a long narrow-fronted hall or vaulted portal found i”. Today it says “long narrow-fronted hall or vaulted portal in ancient and modern levantine homes that is often open to the outs”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2010 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2010
An architectural drawing of a typical Levantine house, with the liwan area in grey. Liwan ( , from the Persian iwān ) is a word used since ancient times into the present to refer to a long narrow-fronted hall or vaulted portal found in Levantine homes that is often open to the outside.1An Arabic loanword to English, it is ultimately derived from the Persian iwān , which preceded by the article al ("the"), came to be said as Liwan in Arabic and later, English.2 In its simplest form, the history of the liwan dates back more than 2,000 years, when the liwan house was essentially a covered terrace , supported by retaining walls , with a courtyard in front. In its more complex forms, the liwan house is composed of a large ceremonial entrance hall (liwan) at the front of the complex, divided into three sections, and flanked by two smaller liwans. The back of the house opens onto a columned peristyle courtyard from which the main room and the private apartments opposite can be accessed, with symmetry on either side of the central axis. Mats and carpets are typically spread along the length of the floor of the liwan, and the mattresses and cushions along the length of the walls make up the diwan or divan seating area. Based on discussion in Victor A.
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 348878362.
The opening as it stood in 2015
An architectural drawing of a typical Levantine house, with the liwan area in grey. Liwan ( , from Persian eyvān ) is a word used since ancient times into the present to refer to a long narrow-fronted hall or vaulted portal found in Levantine homes that is often open to the outside. An Arabic loanword to English, it is ultimately derived from the Persian eyvān , which preceded by the article al ("the"), came to be said as Liwan in Arabic and later, English. In its simplest form, the history of the liwan dates back more than 2,000 years, when the liwan house was essentially a covered terrace , supported by retaining walls , with a courtyard in front. In its more complex forms, the liwan house is composed of a large ceremonial entrance hall (liwan) at the front of the complex, divided into three sections, and flanked by two smaller liwans. The back of the house opens onto a columned peristyle courtyard from which the main room and the private apartments opposite can be accessed, with symmetry on either side of the central axis. Mats and carpets are typically spread along the length of the floor of the liwan, and the mattresses and cushions along the length of the walls make up the diwan or divan seating area. Based on discussion in Victor A.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 664268377.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
An architectural drawing of a typical Levantine house, with the liwan area in grey. Liwan ( , līwān , from Persian eyvān ) is a long narrow-fronted hall or vaulted portal in ancient and modern Levantine homes that is often open to the outside. An Arabic loanword to English, it is ultimately derived from the Persian eyvān , which preceded by the article al ("the"), came to be said as līwān in Arabic, and later, English. In its simplest form, the history of the liwan dates back more than 2,000 years, when the liwan house was essentially a covered terrace , supported by retaining walls , with a courtyard in front. In its more complex forms, the liwan house is composed of a large ceremonial entrance hall (liwan) at the front of the complex, divided into three sections, and flanked by two smaller liwans. The back of the house opens onto a columned peristyle courtyard from which the main room and the private apartments opposite can be accessed, with symmetry on either side of the central axis. Mats and carpets are typically spread along the length of the floor of the liwan, and the mattresses and cushions along the length of the walls make up the diwan or divan seating area. Based on discussion in Victor A.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1149755574.
The opening as it stood in 2025
Hall in Arabic houses For other uses, see Liwan District . An architectural drawing of a typical Levantine house, with the liwan area in grey. Liwan ( Arabic : ليوان , līwān , from Persian eyvān ) is a long narrow-fronted hall or vaulted portal in ancient and modern Levantine homes that is often open to the outside. An Arabic loanword to English, it is ultimately derived from the Persian eyvān , which preceded by the article al ("the"), came to be said as līwān in Arabic, and later, English. In its simplest form, the history of the liwan dates back more than 2,000 years, when the liwan house was essentially a covered terrace , supported by retaining walls , with a courtyard in front. In its more complex forms, the liwan house is composed of a large ceremonial entrance hall (liwan) at the front of the complex, divided into three sections, and flanked by two smaller liwans. The back of the house opens onto a columned peristyle courtyard from which the main room and the private apartments opposite can be accessed, with symmetry on either side of the central axis. Mats and carpets are typically spread along the length of the floor of the liwan, and the mattresses and cushions along the length of the walls make up the diwan or divan seating area. Based on discussion in Victor A.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1288831045. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “word used since ancient times into the present to refer to a long narrow-fronted hall or vaulted portal found i”. Today it says “long narrow-fronted hall or vaulted portal in ancient and modern levantine homes that is often open to the outs”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
word used since ancient times into the present to refer to a long narrow-fronted hall or vaulted portal found i
Now
long narrow-fronted hall or vaulted portal in ancient and modern levantine homes that is often open to the outs
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.