Yes, the section
element has an "inherent semantic meaning". See the definitions in the HTML5 spec:
-
The
div
element has no special meaning at all. -
The
section
element represents a generic section of a document or application. A section, in this context, is a thematic grouping of content, typically with a heading.
To understand what this meaning is about, see my answer on the question HTML5 section tag meanings?.
The most important argument for not using section
as a wrapper for CSS/JS is: each section
creates an entry in the outline of your document.
Don’t use section
as a wrapper in the way you described it. Use div
(resp. span
) instead.
If you use section
appropriately, you can of course use it as selector for CSS/JS in addition, so you don’t need to add another div
for this.