A Critical Analysis of the Translation of Aṭbāgh al-Dhahab With Introducing a Newly-discovered Old Translation of it and Comparing it With the Edited Text

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 MA of Translation Studies, Allameh Tabataba'i University, Tehran, Iran

2 Associate Professor of English Language Translation, Allameh Tabataba'i University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Sharaf al-Din Shafrava was a well-known scholar and writer of the 6th century AH/12th century CE. One of his works is entitled Atbāgh al-Dhahab fi mavāʿizׅ va al-Khoṭab, in which Shafrava imitated Zamakhshari's style in Aṭvāgh al-Dhahab. There exists an ancient Persian translation of this book edited critically by Rabiʿ-Niyā and Valimanish and published by Library, Museum and Document Center of Iran Parliament in 1391SH/2012CE. The present article aimed at analysing this translation critically. To achieve this aim, the printed text (1389SH/2010 & 1391SH/2012) was compared with the base manuscript of the edition and also with the Arabic original (1309AH/1891CE & 1329AH/1911CE). The comparisons showed that the edited text suffered from several errors, omissions and additions (by the editors), and attempt was made to correct such errors and detect all the instances of omission and addition. The second aim was introducing an ancient and newly-discovered manuscript of this translation and comparing the text of which with the edited text. The findings  showed that this manuscript has more equivalents of Persian origin, and is, in some passages, different from the previous ones. Due to the mentioned deficiencies and shortcomings and discovery of the said manuscript, re-editing the text seems necessary.
Keywords: Sharaf al-Din Shafrava, Translation of Aṭbāgh al-Dhahab, Ancient Translations, Persian Translation.
 
Sharaf al-Din Shafrava is a Ḥanafi scholar and poet of the 6th century AH from Shafrava family. He composed many pieces of poetry, eight thousand verses of which have survived to date. The forms taken used by him are as various as Qasida, Molammaʿ (poems composed in two languages), Rubāʿī (a poem consisted of four lines). Aṭbāgh al-Dhahab (Golden Chains) is another work of his which includes one hundred pieces concerning advice, which was inspired by one of Jār-Allāh Zamakhshari's books called Aṭvāgh al-Dhahab (Rabīʿ-Niyā, 1389SH, p. 50). There is an ancient translation of this book, whose translator remains unknown. The method adopted in this translation is word-for-word, in which the Persian equivalent of each and every word is written right under it. In other words, for every Arabic word, a Persian equivalent is chosen by the translator. In this way, it is apparent that the translator's attempt was to "translate Arabic words and phrases faithfully." (Minovi, 1345SH, p. II). The aforementioned edition was done by Abd al-Hamid Rabiʿ-niyā (1389SH) first as his MA thesis. In his introduction, Shafrava's life and aim of writing Aṭbāgh are briefly explained. Also, the stylistic sameness of this book and Zamakhshari's is mentioned by him. Next, stylistic and linguistic features of the translation including less-frequent words and compounds as well as those lexical items undergone linguistic changes are introduced. In this edition, following manuscripts were used:
- Ms. No. 7038, Library, Museum and Document Center of Parliament, dated 728 AH;
- Ms. No. 252 Jīm, Library of Faculty of Theology, Tehran University, dated 1096 SH (Rabīʿ-Niyā, 1389SH, pp. 33-34).
This edition was later published by the publication of Library, Museum and Document Center of Parliament in 1391SH.
This edition is not free from deficiencies and shortcomings. The present study is aimed at studying such cases and also providing the correct forms. Another aim is to introduce an ancient, newly-found manuscript of this translation and compare it with the published version.
The corpus of this study comprises the following books:
- Translation of Aṭbāgh al-Dhahab fī Mavāʿizׅ va-l Khotab, done by an unknown translator, edited by Abd al-Hamid Rabiʿ-Niya & Vali Ali-Manish. Tehran: Library, Museum and Document Center of Parliament.
- Rabiniyā, A. (1389SH), Introduction and editing translation of Aṭbāgh al-Dhahab fī Mavāʿizׅ va-l Khotab, Master's Thesis, Tehran University, Faculty of Literature & Humanities.
- Al-Maqribi-e Isׅfahāni, Sh. (1309AH). Aṭbāgh al-Dhahab. Beirut: Maṭba'at al-Adabiyya.
-Al-Maqribi-e Isׅfahāni, Sh. (1329AH/1911BC). Aṭbāgh al-Dhahab. Egypt: Maṭba'at al-Ṣa'āda.
- The Ms. chosen as the base text in the edition: Ms. No. 7038, Library, Museum and Document Center of Parliament, dated 728 AH.
- The newly-found Ms. of the translation: Ms. No. 1238, Central library and documents center of University of Tehran.
To conduct this study, first, the base manuscript of the edition (Ms. No. 7038) was downloaded from the website of Library, Museum and Document Center of Parliament. Also, the new-found manuscript (No. 1238) was downloaded from the online library of University of Tehran. In the next step, a minute and thorough comparison was made between Ms. No. 7038 and the edited text. Several comparisons were also made between the aforementioned books of the corpus in order to pinpoint the errors, additions and omissions of the edited text. Later, Ms. No. 1238 was compared to the edited text. The results of these comparisons were categorized into several parts: additions, omissions and those cases which needed emendation.
The aim of the study was to critically analyze the edited text of the Persian translation of Aṭbāgh al-Dhahab as well as introduce a newly-found manuscript of the translation. The results show that there are numerous editorial errors and shortcomings in the studied edited version. These errors may be categorized into the following sub-categories: (1) words added by the editor(s); (2) omitted passages, which are available in the base manuscript; (3) passages in the original Arabic version omitted either in the published bilingual text, or in the base manuscript; (4) editorial errors and cases of misreading in the edited text. The other aim was to introduce the new manuscript and compare it with the published text. The results show that the text of the new manuscript differs from the previous ones. The Persian equivalents of the new text seem to be more than that of the edited version. Also, some of the Persian counterparts in the new text are different from those of the published text. In addition, the newly-found manuscript retains passages that are deleted in previous manuscripts.
 
 

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References

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Classical Persian Literature
Volume 14, Issue 2 - Serial Number 37
Autumn & Winter
January 2024
Pages 77-107

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