The application of semantics to the translation of pre-Islamic poetry : with special reference to the 'Mu'allaqa' of Imru al-Qays
This thesis, to the best of our knowledge, is the first attempt to apply semantics to the translation of pre-Islamic poetry. But this is a thorny path. This poetry is some of the most ambiguous, confusing, disorganized and perfunctorily investigated in the whole of Arabic literature. The Mucallaga of Imru'al-Qays, our subject of study, the crowning achievement of this poetry, is in an even worse case. The principal problem which confronts the researcher as well as the translator is the usual one of how best to bridge the cultural gulf of both time and place, to set this Mucallaga in its cultural context so as to understand its theme, and achieve the same communicative effect of the text in translation. Commentaries and lexicons are of. little help here, because their main interest is the denotation of single words of this Mucallaga rather than in its organic unity. The setting of this Mucallaga in its Semitic literary context would cast some light on its essential theme and hence open new horizons for further comprehensive research in this field. This is the task we embarked upon in Chapter 1. Confronted with fifteen main commentaries, and two English translations of this Mucallaga, we have resorted to the
Husayn, 'Ala al-Din Ahmad
PJ7633.H8 ; Imru' al-Qais. Mu'allaqa
The application of semantics to the translation of pre-Islamic poetry : with special reference to the 'Mu'allaqa' of Imru al-Qays. This thesis, to the best of our knowledge, is the first attempt to apply semantics to the translation of pre-Islamic poetry. But this is a thorny path. This poetry is some of the most ambiguous, confusing, disorganized and perfunctorily investigated in the whole of Arabic literature. The Mucallaga of Imru'al-Qays, our subject of study, the crowning achievement of this poetry, is in an even worse case. The principal problem which confronts the researcher as well as the translator is the usual one of how best to bridge the cultural gulf of both time and place, to set this Mucallaga in its cultural context so as to understand its theme, and achieve the same communicative effect of the text in translation. Commentaries and lexicons are of. little help here, because their main interest is the denotation of single words of this Mucallaga rather than in its organic unity. The setting of this Mucallaga in its Semitic literary context would cast some light on its essential theme and hence open new horizons for further comprehensive research in this field. This is the task we embarked upon in Chapter 1. Confronted with fifteen main commentaries, and two English translations of this Mucallaga, we have resorted to the
application semantics translation pre_islamic poetry special_reference best knowledge first_attempt apply semantics translation pre_islamic poetry path poetry ambiguous investigate whole arabic_literature subject study crown achievement poetry even bad case principal problem confronts researcher well translator usual best bridge cultural gulf time_place set cultural_context theme achieve communicative effect text translation commentaries lexicon little help main_interest denotation single_word rather organic unity set semitic literary_context would cast_light essential theme hence open_new horizon comprehensive field task embark_upon fifteen main commentary english_translation resort