An Evaluation of Translators’ Strategies to Fill in Semantic

and Cultural Voids in Rendering Culture-specific Poetry:

A Study of Two Selected Poems

Khaled Mahmoud Tawfik

Introduction:

This research paper is an attempt to evaluate the strategies

commonly adopted by translators to fill in semantic and cultural voids
when attempting to render culture-specific poetry. To achieve this
purpose, I have selected two famous poems in the history of Arabic
literature, namely, those of Imru’ Al-Qays (Al-Mu’allaqa) and Al-Busiri
(Al-Burda). The former is regarded by many critics as “the oldest, the
most famous, and the most influential poem in all Arabic literature”
(O’Grady: 2) and the latter is considered one of the most famous religious
poems in the history of Islam.

The poem met the greatest veneration among all Muslims. Its verses
are often learned by heart and inscribed on the wall of public buildings.
The “Burda” is extremely popular; very few Arabic poems have gained
such renown. More than ninety commentaries have been written on the
poem in Arabic, Persian and Berber. (Allam: 11)

It is important to point out that the two poems have not been
haphazardly selected: there are various reasons for choosing them, the
most important of which is that both poems are very famous and
commonly quoted by those who are interested in Arabic literature.
Secondly, the two poems are full of cultural details and semantic gaps
that represent a real challenge to any translator regardless of his
experience, talent or skill: Imru’ Al-Qays’ poem abounds in minute
details about life in the Arabian Peninsula in the Pre-Islamic Age creating
cultural and semantic gaps to the target reader, especially if s/he belongs

-1-
to a totally different culture or language. For example, he mentions
different types of stones and rocks common in Arabian Peninsula such as

‫ صالبة‬، ‫ مداك‬، ‫ جندل‬، ‫ صفواء‬، ‫ صخر‬، ‫ جلمود‬. On the other hand, “Al-Burda”
talks about religious concepts, values, events and orientations that might
seem far-fetched to the target reader. Thirdly the two translators’
backgrounds seem interesting to judge how their different cultural and
linguistic backgrounds have made them adopt different approaches to the
two poems in question: “Al-Mu’allaqa” is translated by Desmond
O’Grady, an American who was invited to teach at American University
in Cairo and published his translation in 1997. “Al-Burda” is translated
by Thoraya Mahdi Allam, an Egyptian Muslim who was born in Cairo
and spent twelve years of her childhood in England with her family.

The Status of Poetry Among Arabs:

Throughout the history of Arabic, poetry has been an integral part

of people’s life: it represents a rich, intensive and rhetorical expression of
people’s social, political and ideological reality. In the Pre-Islamic Age,
poetry played a distinctive role and poets occupied highly social positions
in their tribes, whose prestige, influence and power (the tribes’) so much
depended on the number of talented poets they had. Souk Akkaz (literally
Akkaz market) was held every year representing the social gathering and
challenging arena in which poets vied with each other to compose and
recite the best poetry usually talking about their tribes, glorious past,
personal feats, … etc and sometimes underestimating other rival tribes.
Even during tribal wars and conflicts, poetry represented the flag-waving
speech or the mass media to push or urge people to courageously fight
and defend the honour of their tribes, and in time of political negotiations,
reconciliation or armistice, the poet was the mouthpiece of his tribe and

-2-
his poem represented the agreement or treaty between the conflicting
tribes. Hence, although P. B. Shelly said “poets are the unacknowledged
legislators of the world” (Shelley: 255), this does not apply to poets in the
Pre-Islamic Age because they represented, as it were, “the shadow
government” that had weight, power and influence.

The above situation had two expected results: firstly, poets were
treated with respect and veneration and consequently had a say in every
important matter. Secondly, people’s love of poetry intensified and it
became one of the most important components of their daily life. Poetry
also played a key role in bettering and developing people’s innate sense
of language. People's infatuation with poetry made them select “Al-
Mu’allaqat” (the suspended poems) to be “transcribed in letters of gold
on linen and suspended in the shrine of the Kaaba at Mecca as
masterpieces of qasida form. For this reason too they are called ‘the
Golden Odes’ ” (O’Grady, Forward: IX). The purpose of such poems was
“to either praise or satirize” (ibid: IIX), in addition to having a fixed
structure:

Each ode is divided into three parts: the first has to do with the theme
of separation from the beloved; the second with travel; the third with
the ode’s specific theme. Each of these three major parts and themes
has any number of related minor themes, such as the description of the
beloved, of the lover’s horse or camel, of nature, of courage. The ode
closes with a panegyric of the poet’s patron. (ibid: IX)

Imru’ Al-Qays occupies an elevated status among Pre-Islamic

poets due to his creativity, economy of expressions, unique figures of
speech and distinctive rhetorical flourishes.

‫وقد أجمع مؤرخو األدب على أن أمرأ القيس أسبق شعراء العربية إلى ابتداع المعانى والتعبير‬
، ‫ وطرق موضوعات لم ُيسبق إليها‬، ‫ ووفق إلى تشبيهات‬، ‫ وأنه افتتح أبوابًا من الشعر‬، ‫عنها‬
)Selim: 10( .‫ وسبك محكم يتخلله مثل مرسل أو حكمة بالغة‬، ‫هذا إلى لفظ جزل موجز‬

-3-
 The distinguished status of poets and poetry continued throughout
the history of Arabic literature. Certain names contributed to preserving
such a status including those of El-Mutanabi, El-Buhturi, Abu Tammam,
Ibn Zaidoun, Ahmad Shawky … etc. Al-Busiri’s “Burda” has held its
niche in the history of Arabic poetry in general, and religious and sufic
poetry in particular. It has been viewed by most critics, sufis, Muslim
scholars and readers in general to represent the peak of a specific type of
poetry, that is, “madh er-rasoul” viz poetry for praising Prophet
Muhammad peace be upon him.

‫وهى مشهورة بين األنام ويتبرك بها الخواص والعوام حتى قرئت قدام الجنائز والمساجد‬
‫واستشفى بها من األمراض واألسقام وكتبوا عليها من التخميسات والتسبيعات والنظائر ما ال‬
‫يعد … وشرحوها بشروح ال تحصى غير أنهم اقتصروا على المعنى اللغوى وأعرضوا عن‬
‫ وبين فيه‬، ‫ لكن الشيخ ابن المرزوقى المغربى … شرحها شرحًا عظيمًا‬، ‫اللطائف واإلشارة‬
( .‫ وكل من صنف شيئًا ادعى أنه لم ُيسبق به‬.‫المعانى التصوفية فى غاية الطول والكبر‬
)Fatma Mahgoub: Vol 6: 598

The Difficulty of Translating Poetry

Translating poetry has been considered by a lot of translation

scholars and theorists to be the most onerous and strenuous type of
translation, because translation loss is maximal in this case. Peter
Newmark (1988) indicates the reasons for this loss, when he says “the
more the text uses the resources of language and therefore the more
important its form, the greater the losses of meaning; the greatest loss is
in poetry, since it uses all forms of language” (15). Therefore, the
translator’s task in this case, as Roger I. Bell (1993) points out, consists
in “the transformation of a text originally in one language into an
equivalent text in a different language retaining, as far as is possible, the
content of the message and the formal features and functional roles of the
original” (15).

-4-
 One major translation difficulty confronting translators, when
attempting to render poetry, is how to translate figures of speech. Some of
them are universal images and represent no problem to the translator e.g.
“the stone” as an image of hardness and cruelty, “roses” as image of
beauty, “the sea” as an image of loss, ambiguity and passage of
time … etc. But some culture-specific images represent a nightmare to
translators who should realize that one beautiful figure of speech in one
culture may sound ugly, foolish, weird or at least odd in another.
However, this does not mean that the translator has utter freedom to make
changes that may make the poem lose its cultural identity. Bohuslav Ilek
(1970) stresses this fact, when he says “every good translator is aware of
the limits of his licence to make changes in the poetic text. Non-
motivated changes heavily affect the unity and vigour of the poetic work”
(137). He also suggests that:

A second complication is that the poetic image, besides

being connected with the structure of a specific
language, is incorporated into a complex fabric of
specific literary and aesthetic traditions and
conventions. During the long development of a national
culture, certain images become standard symbols. (Ibid:
136)

The two poems in question (as will be discussed later) are replete
with images “whose natural habitat is Arabic (and) become uprooted and
alienated when expressed in the medium of English” (Shamaa: 268). In
other words, Imru’ Al-Qays’ poem is full of cultural elements and details
peculiar to the Pre-Islamic society in the Arabian Peninsula, whereas Al-
Busiri’s “Burda” talks about sufic and religious values, concepts, details,
events and orientations peculiar to the Muslim society. In translating both
poems, the translator’s options should be governed by his/her genuine
intention to strike a balance between two poles: his/her sincerity and
faithfulness to the source text on one hand, and producing a target text

-5-
that wins the target reader’s approval due to being communicative,
rhetorical, informative and above all void of semantic and cultural gaps
on the other hand. This means that “the real determinant is the attitude of
the translator which is decidedly culture-based” (Enani: 103). He, Enani,
also adds that “a translator is a cultural medium: no translator can hope to
evade the cultural implications of his or her translated text”. (ibid: 36)

Another major problem related to the translation of poetry resides

in the phonic aspect of poetry, that is, part of the pleasure of reading or
reciting poetry comes from the musical aspect created by the rhyme
scheme, rhythm, alliteration, assonance, consonance … etc. Preserving
such aspects in the translation is a hard, and in many cases an impossible,
task to the translator due to the morpho-syntactic differences between
languages. A musical structure in one language, when translated, might
not result in a similar one in terms of music or musical effect. This means
that “the poem is different from a commentary on the poem or a
translation of it” (Hatim: 57) and consequently a translator of poetry
should have an ear for music that helps him/her to preserve the music of
the original, and s/he should realize that “the relationship of the
metapoem to the original poem is that of the original to reality” (ibid: 57).
Viktor Kochol (1970) attempts to solve this problem:

In translating a poem, that is to say, a linguistic form of

expression bound by metrical rhythm, we may proceed
in one of two ways: either we may scrupulously adhere
to the rhythmic pattern of the original and copy the
verse form with all its rhythmic components, or we may
disturb the pattern, replacing the original rhythm by a
new one, and in that case we substitute a different verse
form … when a rhythmic copy of the original is
achieved, and when an adequate and when an
inadequate substitution takes place, is neither a simple
nor an easy matter, since it requires a preliminary
rhythmic confrontation on both the specific (that is,
metrical) and the general (that is, linguistic) (106-107).

-6-
 Another difficulty confronting translators of poetry is the language
used in the poem. In other words, the poetry chosen to be translated may
be written in a language that is totally different from that of the age of the
translator. For example, the language used in the two selected poems
abounds in archaic, obsolete vocabulary items that are no longer used in
MSA (Modern Standard Arabic) representing a problem even to native
speakers of Arabic nowadays. Such vocabulary items are related to a life
style, customs and tradition, world view, interests … etc that no longer
have place in our modern life. Enani seems to have the same view:

The fact remains that the Arabic of our forefathers

carried a whole cultural tradition which disappeared
with them and the Arabic we write today (and
occasionally speak) is the product of the culture of our
own time, worldwide. (11)

In the following pages, an attempt is made to evaluate the

strategies, based on the classification given by Mona Baker (1992),
adopted by the two translators in question to fill cultural and semantic
voids in rendering the two selected poems. However, it is noteworthy to
mention that such an evaluation is not meant to undermine the efforts
made by the two translators because their translations are, in my personal
estimation, “remarkable feats” and the two poems selected are considered
by a lot of translators to be untranslatable or at least a challenge that is
hard to overcome. In the introduction to her translation, Allam refers to
this challenge:

The challenge in the translating of this ode was immense and at times
almost overwhelming. The background of the entire poem depends on
a religious heritage coupled with a desert environment from which its
images and symbols are derived. Qur’anic verses are often referred to,
whilst famous Arab proverbs and aphorisms intermingle in the text of
the poem. To the English-speaking reader, such verses (even in
translation) might well be enigmatic and confusing, to say the least, if
the necessary allusions were not just referred to, but also explained. I
was consequently obliged to embody the explanation of such allusions

-7-
 in the verse translation itself, so that the poem could read smoothly
without obliging the reader to referincessently to the notes. (18)

I- Translation by Omission:

This very title, or strategy, may seem paradoxical to many readers

who, rightly, believe that a translation is expected to “add” not to “omit”.
However, the adoption of this strategy is justified in the field of
translation especially in cases where mentioning certain details will,
according to the best of the translator’s knowledge, create an ambiguous
target text, and consequently block the channel of communication
between the target text and target reader. Baker comments on the merits
of this strategy:

This strategy may sound rather drastic, but in fact it

does no harm to omit translating a word or expression in
some contexts. If the meaning conveyed by a particular
item or expression is not vital enough to the
development of the text to justify distracting the reader
with lengthy explanations, translators can and often do
simply omit translating the word or expression in
question. (40)

In the case of rendering culture-specific poetry, translators resort to

this strategy to avoid the “translational nuisance” caused by the culture-
bound details, symbols, element, images … etc that such poetry abounds
in. Nevertheless, it is important to indicate that omitting such details will
make the reader lose part of the pleasure of reading poetry in general.
That is to say, such details constitute an integral part of the cultural and
environmental flavour of the poem. This undoubtedly leads the translator,
if s/he “overuses” this strategy, to produce a “neutralized” text that does
not gratify the reader’s curiosity to know a poetry representing another
culture and enjoy another “poetic ambience” L. Ryken (2002) expresses
his view of such strategies “the average reader is ignorant of rival

-8-
translation theories and of how much has been lost and changed from the
original text”. (10)

The following example O’Grady’s translation will unveil this

argument:

‫وبين العذيب بعد ما متأملى‬ ‫قعدت له وصحبتى بين ضارج‬

‫وأيسره على الستار فيذبل‬ ‫على قطن بالشيم أيمن صوبه‬

We crouched and watched

with an anxious eye for the weather
as the storm ranged the wide waste of sky
before downpour.
Then,
deluge !

The original verses refer to fives places (10) : ، ‫ قطن‬، ‫ العذيب‬، ‫ضارج‬

‫ الستار‬and ‫يذبل‬. In his translation O’Grady omits the five places for no
logical reason and he follows this strategy all through the poem to the
extent that he omits all names of places, mountains, vales, tribes and
people, the most important of which is ‫ فاطمة‬: the woman whom the poem
addresses, the poet’s beloved. This is clear in the following verse.

‫وإ ن كنت قد أزمعت صرمى فأجملى‬ ‫أفاطم مهًال بعض هذا التدلل‬

Easy with this kind of carry on.

Even if you’re bent on a break with me
break with me gently.

He mentions in the introduction to his translation:

Other licences have been to drop the Arabic

monorhyme as unsuitable to English verse and to leave
out place and tribal names as distractions from and
impediments to the compulsion of the passion in the
poetry. (VIII)

-9-
 His first licence, namely, dropping “Arabic monorhyme” may be
justified because it does not suit English verse, but it is really hard to
justify the second licence of leaving out names of places “as distractions
from and impediment to the compulsion of the passion in the poetry”. In
other words, and as mentioned before, omitting such details deprives the
target text of the ambience of the original and thus alleviates the pleasure
of reading the poetry produced in an environment and a cultural milieu
different from that of the reader. For example, it is really hard to imagine
reading a translation of John Milton’s Paradise Lost in which the
translator omits the names of places, mountains, rivers, angels … etc. The
same holds true for reading a translation of William Wordsworth’s poetry
devoid of names of flowers common in the English countryside.
Following this strategy all through also deprives the target text of what
can be called the “poetic authenticity” of the original. The translator
should therefore realize that “translating consists in reproducing in the
receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the source-language
message” (Nida and Taber, 1969: 12).

Allam, on the other hand, does not follow this strategy in her
translation, maybe due to loyalty to a religious poem, unconvinced of this
strategy, to win the target reader’s approval by mentioning all the minute
cultural details of the poem or to preserve the cultural specifity of the
poem. The following verses support this view:

‫مزجـت دمعًا جرى من مقـلة بـدم‬ ‫أمـن تذكـر جيران بذى سلم‬
‫وأومض البرق فى الظلماء من إضم‬ ‫أم هبت الريح من تلقاء كاظمة‬

Do memories of neighbours
of Dhu Salam cause in woe
The blending of the blood with tears
that from yours eyes thus flow

-10-
 Or does the wind that from Kazima blows
your eyes now smite
Or lightning is flashes from Idam
in darkness of the night?

Allam mentions the three places in the original in her translation.

Not only that, she mentions in the endnotes, in both English and Arabic,
explanation of the places in question to eradicate any ambiguity: “Dhu
Salam: A place between Mecca and Madina”, “Kazima: A path to
Mecca” and “Idam: A vale near Madina” (153). This means that such
details are of prime importance to the reader who might belong to a
totally different culture. To reveal the importance of mentioning these
places, Ibrahim Al-Bagoury (1999) in his detailed commentary points out
that mentioning “‫ ”ذى سلم‬for example is a rhetorical aspect that should

never be overlooked: "‫وفى هذا البيت براعة استهالل ؛ ألن فيه إشارة إلى أن هذه القصيدة‬

)33( "‫فى مدح النبى صلى اهلل عليه وسلم حيث ذكر فيه المواضع بقرب المدينة‬.

II-Translation by Paraphrase:

Paraphrase is one of the “safe” and common strategies used by

translators when dealing with culture-specific texts in general. Translators
resort to this strategy when “the concept expressed by the source item is
not lexicalized at all in the target language” (Baker: 38) and this
“involves changing whole phrases and more or less corresponds to
faithful or sense-for-sense translation” (Munday: 25).

On the other hand, a lot of translation theorists and scholars do not

prefer to adopt such a strategy in the translation of poetry, because we
might end up with a prose translation and thus lose the pleasure of
reading a poetic target text. In addition to this, resorting to this strategy
extensively will break the flow of poetic diction and thus spoil the poetic

-11-
nature of the original text. This is why a lot of them think that paraphrase
is “a concealment, that the original work in all of its tone is being hidden
from the reader in the second language” (Rabassa, Conflicting
Responsibilities: 37).

In my personal estimation, paraphrase is a successful strategy if the

translator uses it economically: s/he should resort to this strategy in the
case of translating culture-bound words and phrases that might be
ambiguous to the target reader, or in the case where certain words or
phrases in the original create a semantic void that has to be filled by a
paraphrased expression. The following verses drive this idea home.

‫والفريقين من عرب ومن عجم‬ ‫محمـد سيد الكونيـن والثقـلين‬

‫أبـر فى قـول ال منه وال نعم‬ ‫نبينـا اآلمـر النـاهى فال أحد‬
‫لكل هول من األهـوال مقتحم‬ ‫هو الحبيب الذى ترجى شفاعته‬

The words written in bold represent semantic voids to the translator

as they are self-explanatory in Arabic, but in English, they cause semantic
ambiguity. For example, both "‫ "الكونين‬and "‫ "الثقلين‬create a semantic and
grammatical void. Grammatically speaking, both are “dual” and the dual
number is no longer used in English(2). Semantically, concerning the first
word, the reader has to know what the two worlds are and this is why
Allam, having rendered it as “the two worlds”, adds more explanation in
the endnotes: “the two worlds: This world and the Hereafter” (155).
Regarding ‫الثقلين‬, she paraphrases it s “Man and the jinn” and she does not
explain it in the endnotes, but her option is self-explanatory. She follows
the two strategies (translation alone, or translation plus endnotes) in
rendering ‫ اآلمر‬، ‫ الناهى‬، ‫ الحبيب‬and ‫ شفاعة‬. The last word ‫ شفاعة‬represents a
semantic complexity: “we do not usually realize how semantically

-12-
‫‪complex a word is until we have to translate it into a language which does‬‬
‫‪not have an equivalent for it” (Baker: 22). The following commentary on‬‬

‫‪ by Al-Bagoury supports its semantically-complex nature.‬الشفاعة‬

‫وله صلى اهلل عليه وسلم شفاعات ‪ ،‬منها شفاعته فى فصل القضاء حين يتمنى الناس‬
‫االنصراف من المحشر ولو للنار‪ ،‬لشدة الهول ‪ ،‬وهذه هى الشفاعة العظمى ‪ ،‬وتسمى المقام‬
‫المحمود ؛ ألنه يحمده عليها األولون واآلخرون ‪ ،‬وهى مختصة به صلى اهلل عليه وسلم ‪،‬‬
‫ومنها شفاعته صلى اهلل عليه وسلم فى دخول جماعة الجنة بغير حساب‪ .‬ومنها شفاعته صلى‬
‫اهلل عليه وسلم فى جماعة استحقوا النار ‪ ،‬ال يدخلونها ‪ ،‬بل يدخلون الجنة ‪ ،‬ومنها شفاعته‬
‫صلى اهلل وسلم فى جماعة دخلوا النار أن يخرجوا منها ‪ ،‬وهذه غير مختصة به صلى اهلل عليه‬
‫وسلم ‪ ،‬بل تكون لغيره أيضًا ‪ ،‬ومنها شفاعته صلى اهلل عليه وسلم فى رفع درجات إناس فى‬
‫الجنة ‪ ،‬ومنها شفاعته صلى اهلل عليه وسلم فى تخفيف العذاب عن بعض الكفار‪)42( .‬‬

‫‪Allam’s translation reveals how she finds paraphrase the only way‬‬
‫‪out of these problematic, semantically complex words:‬‬

‫والفريقين من عرب ومن عجـم‬ ‫محمـد سيد الكونيـن والثقلـين‬

‫أبـر فى قـول ال منه وال نعـم‬ ‫نبينا اآلمـر الناهى فـال أحـد‬
‫لكل من هول من األهوال مقتحم‬ ‫هو الحبيب الذى ترجى شفاعته‬

‫‪Mohamed, Lord of the two worlds,‬‬

‫‪and of Man and the jinn,‬‬
‫‪Lord also of the Arabs and‬‬
‫‪non Arabs and their kin‬‬
‫‪Our prophet, Commander of right,‬‬
‫‪prohibits evil’s way,‬‬
‫‪Yet no one’s speech more gentle could be‬‬
‫‪than his nay or yea.‬‬
‫‪Beloved by God is he upon‬‬
‫‪Whose pleading we depend‬‬
‫‪From terrors of the Day of Judgment,‬‬
‫‪which on us descend.‬‬

‫‪Sometimes one word, due to its semantically-complex nature,‬‬

‫مغتنم ‪requires a number of phrases to be adequately paraphrased. The word‬‬
‫‪in the following verse is a good example:‬‬

‫ومن هو النعمة العظمى لمغتنم‬ ‫ومن هو اآلية الكبرى لمعتبر‬

‫‪-13-‬‬
 Thou art the greatest omen
to whomever does desire
To know the right from evil
and to virtue thus aspire.
Thou art the highest blessing
to whome’er a profit gains,
The blessing of the guidance of
Islam and all its claims.

She even sometimes resorts to what can be called double

paraphrase, that is, paraphrasing the problematic word in question twice
like the following example:

‫من العناية ركنا غير منهدم‬ ‫بشرى لنا معشر اإلسالم إن لنا‬

Good news, oh people of Islam

and tidings of great joy!
For God has a support us given,
which none can destroy.

Similarly, O’Grady faces semantic and cultural voids that compel

him to resort to paraphrase due to the absence of an adequate equivalent
in the target culture. The following verse unveils this fact:

‫إذا ما استبكرت بين درع ومجول‬ ‫إلى مثلها يرنو الحليم صبابًة‬

On a girl like that girl an older man gazes

with the adoration of an adolescent.
She’s trim, tall, caught between God’s clear
outline of the child and
the curvaceous warmth of womanhood

It’s crystal clear that O’Grady faces problem with ‫ صبابة‬which is “

‫ رقة الهوى‬: ‫ وقيل‬، ‫ رقته وحرارته‬: ‫ وقيل‬، ‫( ”الشوق‬Ibn Manzour, Vol. VII: 270)
‫ درع‬which is “‫( ”قميص المرأة‬Az-Zawzany: 27) and ‫ المجول‬which is
“‫( ”ثوب تلبسه الجارية الصغيرة‬ibid: 27).

-14-
 He paraphrases ‫ صبابة‬as “adoration of an adolescent”, a translation
which can be criticized because “adoration” alone would have been
enough. When he comes to ‫ درع‬and ‫ المجول‬, he prefers to mention the
hidden meaning behind these two types of clothes, that is, the poet’s
beloved combines two types of beauty; that of little girls and the one of
mature women. His paraphrase corresponds to the interpretation provided
by Az-Zawzany

‫ إلى مثلها ينبغى أن ينظر العاقل كلفًا بها وحنينًا إليها إذا طال قدها وامتدت قامتها بين‬: ‫يقول‬
‫ أى بين اللواتى أدركن الحلم وبين اللواتى لم يدركن‬، ‫من تلبس الدرع وبين من تلبس المجول‬
‫ يريد أنها طويلة القد مديدة القامة وهى بعد لم تدرك الحلم وقد ارتفعت عن سن‬، ‫الحلم‬
‫ فحذف‬،‫ بين البسة درع والبسة مجول‬: ‫ تقديره‬، ‫ بين درع ومجول‬: ‫ قوله‬.‫الجوارى الصغار‬
)27( .‫المضاف وأقام المضاف إليها مقامه‬

However, sometimes his paraphrase fails to communicate the

hidden meaning of the verse like the following example:

‫غذاها نمير الماء غير المحلل‬ ‫كبكر المقاناة البياض بصفرة‬

she’s pale as the first born babe

nurtured by that unsullied side of the stream
not settled on

The poet in the above verse talks about a certain type of beauty
peculiar to Arabs: a woman is considered to be beautiful, according to
them, if she has a yellowish, white skin. O’Grady’s paraphrase does not
convey that culture-specific beauty: the adjective “pale”, with all its
negative connotations, indicates that the yellow colour is a sign of
weakness or disease. Thus, his paraphrase neither conveys the hidden
meaning of the image, nor preserves the culture-specific figure of speech.
Az-Zawzany’s comment supports this conclusion:

-15-
‫ غــذاها مــاء‬: ‫ ثم رجـع إلى صـفتها فقـال‬، ‫شبه لون العشيقة بلون بيض النعام فى أن كل منهما بياضًا خالطته صفرة‬
‫ وإ نمــا شــرط هــذا ألن المــاء من أكــثر‬، ‫ يريــد أنــه عــذب صــاف‬، ‫نمــير عــذب لم يكــثر حلــول النــاس عليــه فيكــدره ذلــك‬
‫األشياء تأثيرًا فى الغذاء لفرط الحاجـة إليـه فـإذا عـذب وصـفًا حسـن موقعـه فى غـذاء شـاربه؛ وتلخيص المعـنى على‬
‫ والبيــاض الــذى شــابته صــفرة‬، ‫ أنهــا بيضــاء تشــوب بياضــها صــفرة وقــد غــذاها مــاء نمــير عــذب صــاف‬: ‫هــذا القــول‬
)23( .‫أحسن ألوان النساء عند العرب‬

III- Translation by Cultural Substitution:

Translators resort to this strategy when the source text contains

culture-specific terms or expressions that do not have adequate
equivalents in the target language and consequently they search for
cultural equivalents in the target language that have the same
propositional meaning of the original term or expression. In other words,
“the main advantage of using strategy is that it gives the reader a concept
with which s/he can identify, something familiar and appealing” (Baker:
31). However, translators have to realize that “linguistic communities
vary in the extent to which they tolerate strategies that involve significant
departure from the propositional meaning of the text” (ibid: 31).

The following verse reveals O’Grady’s adoption of this strategy

‫بسهميك فى أعشار قلب معطل‬ ‫وما ذرفت عيناك إال لتضربى‬

Surely your eyes

did not well up and weep tears like daggers
to mindlessly splinter
my lovesick heart !

He replaces "‫ "بسهميك‬with daggers for no obvious reason. The

original image is a universal one and if literally translated, it will be
understood by all readers regardless of their different cultural
backgrounds. Most languages of the world know Cupid “the Roman god
of love, son of Mercury and Venus (represented as a beautiful naked

-16-
winged boy with a bow and arrows)” (The New Shorter Oxford English
Dictionary, Vol. I: 571). Thus, the arrow of love is a universal image and
the English language has the idiom “Cupid’s dart” which indicates “the
conquering power of love” (ibid: 571). Az-Zawzany’s comment supports
this view: " ‫استعار للحظ عينيها ودمعها اسم السهم لتأثيرهما فى القلوب وجرحها إياها كما أن‬

)17( "‫السهام تجرح األجسام وتؤثر فيها‬.

O’Grady makes a more grievous mistake in the translation of the

following verses.

‫تتابع كفيـه بخيـط موصـل‬ ‫درير كخذروف الوليد أمره‬

‫وإ رخاء سرحان وتقريب تتفل‬ ‫له أيطال ظبى وساقا نعامة‬

He’s quicker than quicklime,

quick as the peg-top flicked by a child
off a tight spinning top’s string.
My camel has the haunches of gazelle in gallop,
his legs the leanness of ostrich loping.
He sports the jerky jog of the jackal
looks fox frisky.

Throughout the history of Arabic poetry, Imru’ Al-Qay’s

description of his horse’s quickness, skill, boldness and ability to
maneuver has been frequently quoted. In other words, Arabs, readers,
critics and poets unanimously agree that in the above verses, the poet is
talking about his horse. In spite of this, O’Grady replaces “horse” with
“camel” for no obvious reason. His inaccurate choice does not convey the
idea behind the description because throughout the history of Arabs, even
till today, the horse is the classical example of knighthood, bravery and
warriorship. Also, in Pre-Islamic Age, a noble warrior, famous prince and
matchless poet like Imru’ Al-Qays would never be proud of riding a
camel in a war or in hunting. The following commentary by Az-Zawzany
supports the above argument:

-17-
 ‫ والجمع‬،‫ الصبى‬: ‫ الوليد‬.‫شبه سرعة هذا الفرس بسرعة دوران الحصاة على رأس الصبى‬
. ‫ والجمع الوالئد‬، ‫ وقد يستعار لألمة‬، ‫ الصبية‬: ‫ والوليدة‬، ‫ وجمع خذروف خذاريف‬، ‫الولدان‬
.‫ إحكام الفتل‬: ‫اإلمرار‬

‫ هو يدر العدو والجرى أى يديمها ويواصلهما ويتابعهما ويسرع فيهما إسراع‬: ‫يقول‬
‫خذروف الصبى إذا أحكم فتل خيطه وتتابعت كفاه فى فتله وإ دارته بخيط قد انقطع ثم‬
‫ أنه مديم‬: ‫ وذلك أشد لدورانه النمالسه ومرونه على ذلك وتحرير المعنى‬، ‫وصل‬
‫ ثم شبهه فى سرعة مره وشدة عدوه بالخذروف فى دورانه‬، ‫السير والعدو متابع لهما‬
)36-35( .‫إذا بولغ فى فتل خيطه وكان الخيط موصال‬

Christiane Nord (1997) comments on the extensive use of this

strategy for the sake of producing a functional translation:

Functionalism does not mean that the waters of the

Maine should generally be replaced by those of a
Norwegian Fjord, nor that cows’ eyes should become
deer’s eyes or whatever the target culture’s favourite
animal is. Functionality simply means translators should
be aware of these aspects and take them into
consideration in their decisions. (45)

Allam follows two different policies: sometimes she keeps the

original element, with its culture-specific nature, to preserve the cultural
identity of the poem confirming that “the most difficult aspect of
translation is the necessary … attempt to preserve or convey a cultural
milieu and its concomitants through words” (Rabassa, Translation as
Metaphor: 10). The following verse pinpoints this attempt on the part of
Allam:

‫وأطرب العيس حادى العيس بالنغم‬ ‫ما رنحت عذبات البان ريح صبا‬

As long as branches of the willow trees

in east winds sway,
And as long as the camel-driver
singing on his way,
Delights, by his songs, red roan
coated camels all the day.

-18-
 She translate "‫ "ريح صبا‬which is "‫"الريح الشرقية التى تهب صوب باب الكعبة‬
(Al-Bagoury: 69) as “east winds”, "‫ "العيس‬which is " ‫إبل بيض يخالطها شقرة أو‬
‫( "حمرة وهى من كرام اإلبل‬ibid: 70) as “red roan coated camels” and "‫"حادى‬
which is "‫("والمراد بحادى اإلبل سائقها‬ibid: 70) as “the camel driver”. She
intentionally preserves all these cultural elements that may be of interest
to the target reader: “because the ideal translator must be the ideal reader”
(Rabassa, Translation and its Responsibilities: 23). Allam in her
introduction seems to have the same point of view

There is the third kind of reader, who is also the translator of the text.
His task (as a reader) is even more difficult than that of the teacher of
the translated text who has to be prepared to answer any query. This
kind of reader must anticipate any enquiry from other prospective
readers of his translation, and he realizes that neither he nor the
original text will be present when the foreign reader is left alone with
the translation. Here a competent translator must conscientiously face
all the possible nice differences in the meaning of the words in his text,
and spare no effort to anticipate the correct version of his choice, thus
making his translation, as far as is humanly possible, a reproduction of
the original text. In the light of this, the translator must endeavour to
identify himself with the author of the text. (16)

In other words, she does not resort to cultural substitution as she thinks
that the target reader will find no difficulty in understanding her choices.

However, she sometimes believes that cultural substitution is the

best policy when certain culture-specific images are involved: she
realizes that such images, if literally translated, might not be understood
by the target reader. To clarify this point, some images are derived from
the environment itself and rendering them literally might not be
comprehended or accepted by the target reader who may belong to a
totally different environment. This emphasizes, according to Aiwei Shi
(2006), that “the translator must accommodate to target culture so the
translated piece is culturally acceptable”(1). The following example
highlights the above fact:

-19-
 ‫لقد ظفرت بجبل اهلل فاعتصم‬ ‫قرت بها عين قاريها فقلت له‬

The soul of those who read these verses

reach bliss, so I say
“God’s rope you’ve gained, to it adhere
and never go astray”

The image written in bold is a culture-specific one because ‫قرت‬

comes from ‫“ القر‬coldness” and ‫“ القرور‬cold water”. Out of this literal
meaning, a metaphorical expression has been created, that is "‫"تقر العين‬.
Ibn Manzour reveals this fact: ‫أقر اهلل عينه من القرور وهو الماء البارد مثل قولنا أبرد‬
‫( اهلل دمعة عينيه ألن دمعة الفرح باردة‬Vol. II: 100). Similarly, Al-Asfahani points
out: ‫أصله من القر أى البرد … فقرت عينها (أى أم موسى) ألن للسرور دمعة باردة قارة‬
)398( .‫ ولذلك يقال فيمن يدعى عليها أسخن اهلل عينه‬، ‫وللحزن دمعة حارة‬.

The two definitions refer to one of the Arabs’ beliefs: the Arab, who
suffers from a hot environment, finds coldness nice and pleasant and
this is why s/he believes that the happy tears are cold and the tears of
pain and agony are hot: a belief created by the effect of his/her
environment. The Enlgish man, who lives in freezing conditions, finds
the above fact odd, weird or at least irrelevant to his context. Thus,
what is normal and common to an Arab seems totally abnormal to the
English man. (Tawfik: 130)

This means that this image if literally translated is not expected to

be understood by the target reader. Therefore, she replaces it with a
cultural equivalent, “the soul … reach bliss”, conveying the same
propositional meaning. Allam seems to realize that “certain expressions
will not mean anything if translated literally. The translator has to find a
similar expression in the target language or explain the meaning”
(Nassif: 20).

-20-
IV- Using Endnotes:

It is almost a long-established rule in the field of translation to use

endnotes, footnotes or a glossary in the case of translating culture-specific
texts to explain all the cultural and semantic ambiguities or complexities
that the target reader may face. Nord points out that such strategies are
preferable and should be “used frequently in the translation of ancient
texts (such as Homer), in Bible translation or in translations from distant
cultures” (44). She also adds that.

The cultural gap between the amount of information

presupposed with respect to source-text receivers and
the actual cultural and world knowledge of the target-
text addressees can sometime be bridged by additional
information or adaptations introduced by the translator.
(86)

The two translators seem to adopt two different strategies. O’Grady

avoids using footnotes, endnotes or a glossary even when a source-text
image, idiom or expression is far-fetched and totally weird to the target-
reader. The following verse is an illustrative example.

‫أساريع ظبى أو مساويك إسحل‬ ‫وتعطو برخص غير شثن كأنه‬

She works her will with her supple

lemon freshened fingers
weave soft as sand worms, work wonders
as shavings of tamarisk wood.

In the above verse, the poet compares his beloved’s beautiful

fingers to “sand worms”(3): an image that will probably seem eerie,
macabre and grim to the target reader and only appears in horror movies!
In other words, this image will not convey the poet’s objective, that is,
describing the delicacy, beauty and softness of his beloved’s fingers. In

-21-
spite of this, he does not resort to the above strategies to make such points
clear.

In contrast to O’Grady, Allam is not blind to cultural differences.

She realizes that Al-Burda is replete with Islam-bound terminology e.g. "

‫ "الصديق‬، "‫ "األشهر الحرم‬، "‫ "الحبيب‬، "‫ "الصراط‬، "‫ "الحوض‬، "‫ "الميزان‬culture-specific

expressions "‫ "الهوى العذرى‬، "‫ "نار القرى‬Qur’anic quotations

"‫… "قاب قوسين‬etc. Such features are expected to represent a meaning

barrier to the target reader. To remove such a barrier, she resorts to
endnotes in both English and Arabic (to the Arab reader who reads her
translation). For example, she, in her endnotes, explains that "‫ "الصديق‬is

“the trusting one: Abu Bakr El-Sideek” (158), "‫ "الهوى العذرى‬comes from
“Udhrite: pertaining to Udhra, a tribe in Yemen whose men were famed
for their extreme chastity” (ibid: 153) and "‫ "الحوض‬means

The Pool: After the wicked are punished in Hell for a certain period,
they are released after having been purged of their sins. Before they
enter paradise, they bathe themselves at the Pool, where their faces
regain their original colour after having been charred in Hell. (160)

V- Translation by a more general word (superordinate)

This is a very common strategy used by translators “for dealing

with many types of non-equivalence, particularly in the area of
propositional meaning” (Baker: 26). This strategy is a successful one “in
most, if not all languages, since the hierarchical structure of semantic
fields is not language-specific” (ibid: 26). It can be said that translators
resort to this strategy when the target language lacks a hyponym
equivalent to the one in the original text, and to fill in any semantic gap
created by the hyponym in question.

-22-
 O’Grady uses this strategy extensively in his translation to avoid
creating semantic or cultural voids created by the very minute details
mentioned by Imru’ Al-Qays. The words "‫ "اليمانى‬and "‫ "سالف‬are two
revealing examples:

‫نزول اليمانى ذى العياب المحمل‬ ‫وألقى بصحراء الغبيط بعاعة‬

‫صبحن سالفًا من رحيق مفلفـل‬ ‫كأن مكاكى الجـواء غـدية‬

"‫ "اليمانى‬is "‫ "التاجر اليمانى‬whereas "‫ "السالف‬is " ‫أجود الخمر وهو ما انعصر‬

‫( "من العنب من غير عصر‬Az-Zawzany: 44). Both words are hyponyms: the
superordinates can be “merchant” and “wine”. O’Grady almost mentions
the same choices:

As a merchant dumps his bundle of merchandise

in the market place.
come morning
it was as though the songbirds of the valley
had drunk spiced old wine
they winged and warbled so.

What O’Grady simply does is “to go up a level in a given semantic

field to find a more general word that covers the core propositional
meaning of the missing hyponym in the target language” (Baker: 28).

Similarly, Allam follows the same strategy, but not as extensively

as O’Grady, because she resorts to another strategy namely,
transliteration (as will be shown in next section) to save the trouble of
looking for a superordinate in the target language. This means that she
uses superordinates in very few cases, when she thinks that this strategy
is more accurate and will fill in the semantic or cultural void in question.
Let’s see the following example:

‫من حيث لم يدر أن السم فى الدسم‬ ‫كم حسنت لذة للمرء قاتلة‬

-23-
 How often what to man is fatal
did it thus disguise,
And render so delightful that
he could not realize
The poison in the rich food
or it even recognize

"‫ "الدسم‬is literally "‫ "الدهن‬and the poet uses it because " ‫خص السم بالذكر‬
‫ وخص الدسم بالذكر ألنه يعلو األشياء فيستر ما تحته‬، ‫( "ألنه قاتل‬El-Bagoury: 38).
Allam realizes that translating it literally as “fat” might not win the
reader’s approval and this is why she resorts to the superordinate in
question, “rich food” as a way out. The following verse stresses the same
fact:

‫والورد يمتاز بالسيما عن السلم‬ ‫شاكى السالح لهم سيما تميزهم‬

"‫ "السلم‬is "‫( "شجرة من العضاة‬Az-Zawzany: 64), namely, a type of

thorny bushes. Allam uses the superordinate “thorn bushes” due to
absence in the target culture of the same element and as the closest
possible approximation to ST meaning. In other words, she resorts to this
strategy “to overcome a relative lack of specifity in the target language
compared to the source language” (Baker: 28). As a shorthand, good
translators should always “assume responsibility for reinterpreting the
sense and formulating it in such a way as to achieve what they judge to be
equivalence of effect” (Hatim and Mason: ).

VI- Transliteration:

Transliteration is another expected strategy in rendering culture-

specific texts. That is to say, the translator who translates such texts is
expected to find terms peculiar to a certain culture expressing that
culture’s specifity, identity and distinction. In such cases, a lot of

-24-
translators resort to transliteration for different reasons the most
important of which is to introduce that concept, with its original
articulation, to the target culture or, logically, due to the absence of an
adequate equivalent in the target culture. But an alert translator is not
expected to excessively use this strategy to avoid ending up with a text
dominated by a labyrinth of transliterated words. Using this strategy, in
my personal estimation, should be accompanied by footnotes, endnotes or
a glossary to bridge any semantic gap between the term in question and
the target reader.

Transliteration can be a successful strategy especially in

the case of translating a term that is culturally remote
from the target readers provided that the translator
provides his/her readers with footnotes that clarify the
problematic term in question. (Tawfik: 108)

In her translation, Allam follows this strategy par excellence. She

tries to introduce to the target reader a lot of Islam-related and Arabic-
bound terms that colour the poem, but she uses endnotes to clarify the
term in question. The following verse is an example:

‫مثل البهار على خديك والعنم‬ ‫وأثبت الوجد خطى عبرة وضنًى‬

Love’s passion draws two lines of langour

and of tears which streak
Like yellow bahar and like red anam
upon your cheek.

In her endnotes, she points out that “bahar” is “a plant whose

flower is yellow, and is a symbol of yellowness” (153), whereas “anam”
is “a plant whose flower is red, and is a symbol of redness” (ibid: 153).
This emphasizes that transliteration, when accompanied by endnotes, can
be a successful and reliable strategy.

-25-
 In contrast to Allam, O’Grady avoids using transliteration at all
preferring to use the strategies mentioned before.

Conclusion

The analysis of the two selected poems reveals different facts about
translating poetry in general and culture-specific poetry in particular.
These facts include the following:

(1) A translator of poetry should realize that s/he is not only expected to
convey the meaning of verse, but also communicate “the pleasure of
poetry”, usually resulting from music, figures of speech, rhetorical
flourishes, parallel structures … etc. In other words, s/he has to
“remember that what is translated is a context meant to be read as a
context, not an accumulation of words, and idioms with definite meanings
and stamped-on values” (Gress: 58).

(2) A translator of poetry, or literary texts in general, must have a critical

sense that guides him/her to opt for the most communicative and
rhetorical choice, because “all translation is an act of critical
interpretation (Holmes: 93). This means that the translator should attempt
an in-depth analysis of the poem in question to come up with the hidden,
subtle meanings of the poem as “a good translator must have a flair for
what is left unsaid-what is merely implied-so that he can render what is
said into his own language adequately”
(Bream: 131).

(3) In the case of culture-specific poetry, the translator should be keen on

preserving the cultural milieu of the poem with all its distinctive details,
elements, symbols, customs and traditions, … etc, not sacrificing any of
these elements unless s/he realizes that this element will be a barrier in

-26-
 the process of communication and interaction between the target text and
target reader.

(4) S/he should also realize that translating culture-specific poetry is

almost impossible without what John Lyons (1981) calls “makeshift
compromises” (322). In other words, s/he should select the strategy
(paraphrase, transliteration, cultural substitution, omission … etc) that
will maximally convey the propositional meaning in question. In other
words, his/her ultimate aim should be “to find some local or regional
equivalent in English which rings at least somewhat true and again the ear
must be the guide” (Rabassa, Ear in Translation: 84). Rabassa, refers to
the importance of the translator’s musical ear in the translation of poetry,
that is, the translator should spare no effort to preserve the phonic aspect
(music) of the poem. Allam, in her introduction, refers to this fact, when
she points out that “the majority of the verses in this ode (one hundred
and twenty two verses) have been translated into a couplet”, “twenty nine
verses which required a triplet” and she concludes that “there are nine
verses to which I could not do justice without translating each of them
into quatrain” (20-21).

-27-
 Endnotes

(1) Az-Zawzany points out that :

‫ جبــل وكــذلك الســتار ويــذبل جبالن وبينهمــا وبــير قطن‬: ‫ موضــعان … القطن‬: ‫"ضــارج والعــذيب‬
)41( "‫مسافة بعيدة‬

(2) The pronoun system had a reference to the dual number in Old
English (444-1100) which totally disappeared in Middle English (1100-
1500). In this respect, Thomas Pyles and John Algeo (1982) point out that
“the dual number of the personal pronoun virtually disappeared in Middle
English” (165) and add that “English had lost much of its idea of
twoness” (ibid: 157).

(3) Az-Zawzany comments that:

)26( "‫ تشبه أنامل النساء به‬، ‫ دود يكون فى البقل واألماكن الندية‬: ‫"األسرع واليسروع‬

-28-
 Works Cited

Allam, Thoraya Mahdi. Al Busiri’s Burda: The Prophet’s Mantle. Cairo:

General Egyptian Book Organization, 1987.

Baker, Mona. In Other Words: A Coursebook on Translation. London and

New York: Routledge, 1992.

Bell, Roger T. Translation and Translating: Theory and Practice. New

York: Longman, 1993.

Bream, Helmut “Languages Are Comparable Yet Unique”. The World of

Translation. Ed. Gregory Rabassa. New York: PEN American
Center, 1971.

Brown, Lesley ed. The New Shorter Oxford Dictionary on Historical

Principles. 2 Vols. Oxford: Oxford Clarendon Press, 1993.

Enani, M. M. On Translating Arabic: A Cultural Approach. Cairo: General

Egyptian Book Organization, 2000.

Gress, Elsa. “The Art of Translating”. The World of Translation. Ed.

Gregory Rabassa. New York: PEN American Center, 1971.

Hatim, B and I. Mason. Discourse and the Translator. Singapore:

Longman, 1993.

Hatim, Basil. Teaching and Researching Translation. Essex: Pearson

Education Limited, 2001.

-29-
Ilek, Bohuslav. “On Translating Images”. The Nature of Translation:
Essays on the Theory and Practice of Literary Translation. Ed. James
S. Holmes. Bratislava: Publishing House of the Slovak Academy of
Holmes, Sciences, 1970. 135-138.

James S. “Verse Translation and Verse Form”. The Nature of Translation:

Essays on the Theory and Practice of Literary Translation. Ed. James
S. Holmes. Bratislava: Publishing House of the Slovak Academy of
Sciences, 1970. 41-105.

Kochol, Victor. “The Problem of Verse Rhythm in Translation”. The Nature

of Translation: Essays on the Theory and Practice of Literary
Translation. Ed. James S. Holmes. Bratislava: Publishing House of
the Slovak Academy of Sciences, 1970. 106-111.

Lyons, John. Language and Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press, 1981.

Munday, Jeremy. Introducing Translation Studies: Theories and

Applications. New York: Routledge, 2001.

Nassif, Maggie. “English Perspectives on Naguib Mahfouz”. Unpublished

PH.D Thesis. Cairo: Cairo University, 1998.

Newmark, Peter. Approaches to Translation. Hertfordshire: Prentice Hall

International, 1988.

Nida, Eugene A. and Charles Taber. The Theory and Practice of

Translation. Leiden: Brill, 1969.

-30-
Nord, Chrisitane. Translating As a Purposeful Activity: Functionalist
Approaches Explained. Manchester: St. Jerome Publishing, 1997.

O’Grady, Desmond. The Golden Odes of Love: Al-Mu’allaqat. Cairo: The

American University in Cairo Press, 1997.

Pyles, Thomas and John Algeo. The Origins and Development of the
English Language. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich INC,
1982.

Rabassa, Gregory. “If This Be Treason: Translation and Its Possibilities”.

Translation: Literary, Linguistic and Philosophical Perspectives. Ed.
William Frawley. New York: University of Delaware Press, 1984.
21-29.

- - - . “The Ear in Translation”. The World of Translation. Ed. Gregory

Rabassa. New York: PEN American Center, 1971. 81-85.

- - - . “The Silk Pure Business: A Translator’s Conflicting Responsibility”.

Translation: Literary, Linguistic and Philosophical Perspectives. Ed.
William Frawley. New York: University of Delaware Press, 1984.
35-40.

- - - . Translation As Metaphor”. The Craft of Translation. Eds John

Biguenet and Rainer Schulte. Chicago: The University of Chicago
Press, 1989. 1-12.

Ryken, L. The Word of God in English: Criteria for Excellence in Bible

Translation. Illinois: Crossway Books, 2002.

-31-
Shamaa, Najah. “A Linguistic Analysis of Some Problems of Arabic to
English Translation”. Unpublished PH.D Thesis. Oxford: Linacre
College, 1978.

Shelley, B.P. “A Defence of Poetry”. English Critical Texts. Eds D. J.

Enright and Ernst De Chickera. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987. 225-
255.

Tawfik, Khaled M. “A Study of the Translation of Figurative Language in

the Qur’an with Reference to Arberry, Dawood, Ghali and Yusuf
Ali”. Unpublished PH.D Thesis. Cairo: Cairo University, 2003.

On-line Sources
Shi, Aiwei. “Causes of Failure in Translation and Strategies”. Translation
Directory.com. Ed. Andrea Bullrich. 20 May 2003. Localization Industry
Standards Association, Buenos Aires. 1 April 2006.
http://www.translationdirectory.com/article129.htm/

Arabic Works Cited

.1999 ، ‫ مكتبة الصفا‬، ‫ القاهرة‬.‫ البردة لإلمام البوصيرى‬.‫ إبراهيم الباجورى‬-

.1997 ،‫ المكتبة التوفيقية‬، ‫ القاهرة‬.)‫ جزء‬18( ‫ لسان العرب‬.‫ ابن منظور‬-
، ‫ القاهرة‬.‫ تحقيق محمد سيد كيالنى‬.‫ المفردات فى غريب القرآن‬.‫ الراغب األصفهانى‬-
.1961 ، ‫مطبعة مصطفى البابى وأوالده‬
،‫ دار الطالئع‬، ‫ القاهرة‬.‫ تحقيق وشرح محمد إبراهيم سليم‬.‫ شرح المعلقات السبع‬.‫ الزوزنى‬-
.1994
‫ دار الغد الجديد‬، ‫ القاهرة‬.‫ تحقيق وشرح أحمد أحمد شتيوى‬.‫ شرح المعلقات السبع‬.‫ الزوزنى‬-
.2006 ،
‫ تصدر فى‬، ‫ دار الغد العربى‬، ‫ القاهرة‬.‫ الموسوعة الذهبية للعلوم اإلسالمية‬.‫ فاطمة محجوب‬-
.‫ وحتى اآلن‬1992 ‫أعداد أسبوعية منذ‬

-32-