My comments:
Diva is Italian in origin, for the leading female singer of the opera. Diva means goddess. It has the same roots as deity and divine.
In fact, the male form of the word is divo, someone deified after death.
In Italian opera, divo still exists, being reserved for the biggest leading tenors of the opera.
However, it seems only “diva” crept into English (first known use 1883, according to Merriam-Webster.com) and remains popular in usage today.
Today, diva is used to mean any female leading performer in the opera, theatre, cinema or popular music, which is the case in our example.
In other words, she’s a superstar, who is brighter, bigger and more glamorous than most others.
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About the author:
Zhang Xin(張欣) has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.