Comparative Analysis of the Equivalents of "Al-mavâli" and "Vali" in the French and Persian Translations of Verse 5 of Surah Maryam

پژوهش های زبان و ترجمه فرانسه

Article 8, Volume 5, Issue 2 - Serial Number 9, March 2023   

Document Type: پژوهش های زبان و ترجمه فرانسه

DOI: 10.22067/rltf.2023.84288.1092

Authors

Mokhtar ISSAIYAN^{* 1}; Mitra Toussi²

¹Department of French Language, Faculty Persian Literature and Foreign Languages Allameh Tabataba'i University

²No

Abstract

 The question of the translation of sacred text and the appropriate approaches in this regard has always remained interesting subjects. Given the difficulties of translating sacred texts and the importance of maintaining the sacredness of the divine word, the translatability of the sacred texts remains the most important question for theologians and translators of biblical and Quranic texts. In translation studies, the analysis of translations of sacred texts, based essentially on exegesis and tafsïr (commentaries), constitute a relevant approach. Thus, in this research, from a comparative and semantic perspective, we will examine the possibility and suitability of French and Persian translations of the Quran concerning the terms “Al-mavali” and “vali” in verse 5 of Surah Maryam. The analysis is essentially on the sources dealing with the meaning of Quranic terms and expressions, with regard to the sacredness of the divine word. The study compares the equivalents proposed by the translators. While taking into account religious, historical and cultural parameters, the study explores the lexical and contextual meanings of the terms in question and shed light on the reasons for the semantic impropriety of the equivalents and the untranslatability, in a general sense of the terms. Seventy Persian translations and forty French translations of the Quran are analyzed. For the sake of a good understanding of the different meanings of the verse, apart from the existing translations, the study take advantage of tafsïrs and commentires of certain reputed Shiite exegetes of the Quran. 

Keywords

translation of the Quran; polysemy; vali; al-mavali; comparative studies; French equivalents of the terms

References