Abbas Eghbali; Zeynab Rahimi
Volume 3, Issue 7 , June 2013, , Pages 105-130
Abstract
The Holy Qur’an is a multilayered fantastic text and the translation of its verses requires great care and attention. This is why many translations of the Holy Qur’an have been criticized on different grounds. Due to the high frequency of the instances of figurative language in the Holy Qur’an, ...
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The Holy Qur’an is a multilayered fantastic text and the translation of its verses requires great care and attention. This is why many translations of the Holy Qur’an have been criticized on different grounds. Due to the high frequency of the instances of figurative language in the Holy Qur’an, these types of phrases need special consideration in related research. The purpose of the present study is to explore some of the translations offered for the figurative language of the Holy Qur’an within the scope limits of an article. Four translations of the same text have been selected, including those by Ayati, Elahi, Fooladvand, and Khorramshahi. They are famous translators of the Holy Qur’an and, at the same time, differ in their methods of translation. Works on Quranic interpretation like al-Mīzan, Jawame’ al-Jame’, and Mafātīh al-Ghaib and others have been used to look at the language of the first ten chapters of the Holy Qur’an. The results of this study indicate that the four translators offer very different translations of the same figurative language. They seem not to have followed any particular translation style. Sometimes, they have used figurative language of the target forms and sometimes they have tried to offer explanations instead. In some other cases, some of the nuances of the meanings of the figurative language have been ignored and the translations have become literal, not expressing the meaning intended by the verses.
Reza Amani; Leila Zarbakhsh; Omolbanin Farhadi
Volume 3, Issue 6 , March 2013, , Pages 69-89
Abstract
Metonymy is an important and influential expressive device and structure in rhetoric and plays an important role in the aesthetics and sense of the Quranic context. Thus, the translation of it is also very important. In the paper, a methodology of translating types of metonymy is provided and the performances ...
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Metonymy is an important and influential expressive device and structure in rhetoric and plays an important role in the aesthetics and sense of the Quranic context. Thus, the translation of it is also very important. In the paper, a methodology of translating types of metonymy is provided and the performances of translators of the Qur'an are reviewed.
Scholars have identified two methods of translating metonymy - and all other texts. One is ‘semantic’ (translation to metonymy) and the other is ‘communicative’ (translation to reality). However, the authors of the present paper propose an integrated ‘semantic-communicative’ method for translating metonymies in the Qur'an. It seems that the said method, which is a combination of the semantic and communicative method, is the proper and effective method for translating metonymy. However, a review of different translations of the Qur'an shows that translators have used different methods, which has led to a high level of coherence in their translations. Therefore, these translations are based on preference rather than scientific approach.
