Lexical Synonyms in The Holy Qur'an and Their Translations: A Case Study
Lexical Synonyms in The Holy Qur'an and Their Translations: A Case Study
Lexical Synonyms in The Holy Qur'an and Their Translations: A Case Study
13, 2012
1. Introduction
Every language has a set of semantic relations among its words. Synonymy is
one of the fundamental types of sense relations. Though it has been regarded in
the past two decades as one of the most significant phenomena that influence the
structure of lexicon, it has been given less attention in linguistics, semantics, and
lexicography than the equally fundamental and much studied polysemy
(Edmonds and Hirst 2002:106). Whatever the reasons are, synonymy is one of
the main issues in linguistics and translation that need further attention.
Various points of view have been expressed about its definition, typology
and translation particularly in sensitive texts such as religious or legal texts
where accuracy is required. Synonymy has long been a controversial issue
amongst European and Arab linguists. In the case of Arabic, it is important to
note that this language is characterized by the use of synonymous lexical items.
The richness of synonyms in Arabic can be ascribed to a wide range of factors
which are beyond the scope of the present study. The existence of synonyms is
relevant to Arabic rhetoric, eloquence and figures of speech. There are two
opposing points of view concerning synonymy. The first is to accept the idea
and hence create collections of synonyms. Al-’sma‘i (216/831), for instance, has
compiled a list of seventy names for 'stones' in Arabic; others have collated fifty
names for 'sword' whilst others have documented five hundred names for 'lion'
and one hundred names for 'snake' (Al-Munajid 2007:36). The second group of
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scholars reject the notion of synonymy outright, claiming that language contains
no synonyms. Ibn Al-’arabi (231/845) and Ibn-Faris (395/1004) maintain that it
is illogical to have two or more words in a language with one reference. They
also assert that the different synonymous names compiled in books are not
synonyms, but rather one name with various different attributes (Abdel-Tawab
1987:311). Accordingly, 'the lexical items "( "ﺟﻮادfast horse), and ""أدهﻢ
(completely black horse) are attributes rather than synonyms of "( "ﺣﺼﺎنhorse)
(Shehab 2009:870). The second group of scholars appears to reject the idea of
having complete or absolute synonyms. This is one of the main concerns of
contemporary scholars (Al-Munajid 2007:75-76).
Like Arabic, English is rich in synonyms. Palmer (1981:88) notes that
English tends to have synonyms because it is derived from different linguistic
sources: Anglo-Saxon, French, Latin and Greek. There are two points of view
regarding synonymy: the strict and the flexible. The former denies the existence
of synonymy entirely. The flexible view, on the other hand, maintains that any
two words sharing some semantic properties in common are synonymous (Cruse
1986:270). Edmonds and Hirst (2002:106) claim that synonymy has often been
thought of as a 'non-problem': i.e. that there are either synonyms that are
completely identical in meaning and hence easy to deal with, or there are no
synonyms, in which case 'each word can be handled like any other'. Some
scholars including Palmer (1981), Larson (1984), and Cruse (1986), adopt a
compromise position. They maintain that the phenomenon of synonymy exists
in language, but they also point out that there are no real, identical, absolute or
total synonyms. Cruse (1986:268), for example, notes that absolute synonyms
do not exist at all, and that even if they exist they are extremely uncommon. He
adds that 'there is no obvious motivation for the existence of absolute synonyms
in a language and one would expect either that one of the items would fall into
obsolescence or that a difference in semantic function would develop' (270). He
refines this idea and suggests peripheral traits. Even if absolute synonymy were
possible, pragmatic and empirical arguments show that it would be very rare.
More formally, Clark (1992:172) indicates that language works to eliminate
absolute synonyms. An absolute synonym would either fall into disuse or would
take on a new nuance of meaning. In general, near-synonyms can differ with
respect to any aspect of their meaning, be it: denotational, stylistic, expressive or
structural variation (Cruse 1986:291). In short, those scholars focus their efforts
on the investigation of differences among synonymous lexical items.
From a linguistic perspective, Nida and Taber (1969: 73) define
synonymy in language as 'words which share several (but not all) essential
components and thus can be used to substitute for one another in some (but not
all) contexts without any appreciable difference of meaning in these contexts'.
Cruse (1982: 285) and Lyons (1995:199) have attempted to define near-
synonymy by focusing on 'propositional' meaning. Cruse, for example, contrasts
cognitive synonyms and plesionyms. According to Cruse, the former are words
that, when inter-substituted in a sentence, preserve its truth conditions but may
change the expressive meaning, style, or register of the sentence or may involve
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say that we will be examining sets of words that are very similar in meaning but
which in most contexts cannot be inter-substituted without changing some
semantic or pragmatic aspects of the message. Implementation of this has an
impact on the translation of near synonyms. Assuming that synonymous lexical
items are neither identical nor inter-substituted challenges the translator to be
very accurate in finding out the right choice in translation. Accuracy may be
even more essential when dealing with religious texts, where fidelity is of the
utmost importance. This is the main focus of this paper. We aim to investigate
the translation of near synonyms in the Holy Qur’an. Before proceeding, a brief
outline view will be provided of near synonyms in the Holy Qur’an.
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3. Research methodology
The Holy Qur’an has several lexical items denoting the emotional feeling of
'fear' as their core meaning. These include: 'khawf' ()ﺧﻮف, 'khashya' ()ﺧﺸﻴﺔ,
'rahba '()رهﺒﺔ, 'faza’' ()ﻓﺰع, 'wajal' ()وﺟﻞ, 'khushu’'( )ﺧﺸﻮعetc. The first four near
synonymous lexical items are selected for analysis. The semantic component of
each lexical item is decided upon according to its Qur’an verse. The meaning of
each near synonymous lexical item is analyzed in relation to its context. Their
meanings are picked up from books on exegesis of the Holy Qur’an such as Al-
Qurtubi (617/1273) (2003) and Ibn Kathir (774/1372) (1999). They are also
examined using dictionaries of the meaning of the words of the Holy Qur’an,
dictionaries of Arabic language, and commentary books. In addition, there are a
number of linguists whose models are used in the analysis of the semantic
features of the selected lexical items, such as Cruse (1986), Edmonds and Hirst
(2002).
The translation of the selected near synonymous lexical items is then
traced in three translation versions of the Holy Qur’an: those of Pickthall
(1930), Yusuf Ali (1937), and Shakir (1982). These are among the most popular
translations of the Holy Qur’an. M. M. Pickthall's 'The Meaning of the Glorious
Qur’an' has at least 27 editions. It is one of the most widely used translations,
completed by an English man of letters who accepted Islam and faithfully
represented the sense of the original text. Another extremely popular translation
is 'The Holy Qur’an: Translation and Commentary' by the Indian Muslim
scholar Abdullah Yusuf Ali (1937). There are at least 35 editions of his work,
and this translation stands out from others as being a highly readable rendering
of the Holy Qur’an. His translation is one of the most widely-known and used in
the English-speaking world. Finally, the title of English translation of the Qur’an
attributed to M. H. Shakir is 'Holy Qur’an'. It has been widely available since
the 1980s. Shakir was an Egyptian judge, born in Cairo and a graduate of Al
Azhar University.
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Qur’an, 'khawf' ( )ﺧﻮفis mentioned (in all its parts of speech) 124 times,
'khashya' ( )ﺧﺸﻴﺔ48 times, 'faza’' ( )ﻓﺰع6 times, and 'rahba' ( )رهﺒﺔ12 times. This
study limits itself to the noun form of each selected lexical item. It does not
consider their other parts of speech. According to the Dictionary of the Holy
Qur’an (1996), the noun form of 'khawf' ( )ﺧﻮفoccurs 37 times in the Holy
Qur’an. Al-‘askari (395/1005) has mentioned that the word 'khawf' ( )ﺧﻮفis
related to the expectation of bad things such as illness, death etc (1997:241). Al-
Fairuzabadi (817/1414) has added that 'khawf'( )ﺧﻮفindicates the expectation of
punishment (1970:545). It also implies anxiety. Al-Zain (2001:294) defines it as
being a feeling of disordering agitation which overcomes one in the presence of
danger. Thus, the semantic components of the word 'khawf' ()ﺧﻮفinclude the
following features: anxiety, flight, expectation of punishment, expectation of
bad things, and quickening heartbeat. When we examine Merriam-Webster's
Dictionary of Synonyms (1973), we find that the English word with similar
semantic features is 'fear'. It is defined as the most general term to imply anxiety
and apprehension and also frequently suggests a loss of courage.
One of the lexical items related to the word 'khawf' ( )ﺧﻮفis 'khashya'
()ﺧﺸﻴﺔ. The latter occurs eight times (in its noun form) in the Holy Qur’an.
'Khashya'( )ﺧﺸﻴﺔis more specific than 'khawf' ()ﺧﻮف. It is usually connected to
scholars, so indicates a kind of fear connected with knowledge. Thus, 'khawf'
()ﺧﻮفmeans fear with movement but 'khashya' ()ﺧﺸﻴﺔdenotes calmness and
motionlessness. 'Khawf' ( )ﺧﻮفis also related to all people but 'khashya' ( )ﺧﺸﻴﺔis
only related to pious scholars who have knowledge. Thus, 'khashya' ()ﺧﺸﻴﺔ
protects you and forbids you from doing bad things because of your fear of
punishment. Ibn Qaym Al-Jawzia (1970:432) has indicated that when someone
sees an enemy, he will be either in 'khawf' ( )ﺧﻮفand then escape from the
enemy, or stay in a place where the enemy cannot reach him and this is
'khashya'()ﺧﺸﻴﺔ. Enaya (1996:125) points out that the two lexical items are
thought to be synonyms but in fact they are not. They are actually different from
one another, because 'khashya' ( )ﺧﺸﻴﺔhappens because of the fear of our Lord's
majesty and greatness. However, 'khawf' ( )ﺧﻮفimplies weakness on the part of
a person even if he is afraid of simple things. Al-Duri (2006:181) mentions that
'khashya' ( )ﺧﺸﻴﺔis fear with reverence and inner peace which makes one very
cautious while 'khawf' ( )ﺧﻮفis an expectation of bad things. In addition,
'khashya' ( )ﺧﺸﻴﺔoccurs because of a strong faith, belief and knowledge; hence, it
usually relates to true believers who have a strong faith. Thus, 'khashya' ( )ﺧﺸﻴﺔis
largely mentioned in the Holy Qur’an in relation to Allah the Almighty, whereas
'khawf' ( )ﺧﻮفdescribes a state of weakness through looking at one's own deeds
and thus fearing punishment. 'Khashya' ( )ﺧﺸﻴﺔoccurs because of reverence of
someone even if you are strong, whereas fear happens because of your weakness
even if the other thing is weak. According to the Dictionary of Exegesis of
Lexicon of the Holy Qur’an (2001), its semantic components are as follows:
'khashya' ( )ﺧﺸﻴﺔis fear but with reverence and knowledge, usually related to true
believers and those who have knowledge; 'khawf' () ﺧﻮف, on the other hand, is a
feeling inside your heart due to expecting bad things. The English word which
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has similar semantic features is 'awe', defined in the Collins Cobuild English
Dictionary (1995) as being the feeling of respect and amazement when one is
faced with something wonderful and often rather frightening.
The third near synonymous lexical item investigated is the Arabic word
'rahba' ()رهﺒﺔ. Al-Zain (2001) indicates that it means too much fear and thus
flight from bad things. It is fear combined with nervousness, anxiety and
caution. Al-'askari (395/1005) points out that 'rahba' ( )رهﺒﺔis a constant
continuous feeling of fear; it takes a long duration (1997:241). Al-Fairuzabadi
(817/1414) asserts that 'rahba' ( )رهﺒﺔimplies too great willingness to run away
because of excessive fear (1970:545). This lexical item can be rendered as
'terror' in English, since the latter denotes the meaning of extreme fear.
The fourth lexical item examined is 'faza’' ()ﻓﺰع. It occurs twice in its
noun form within the Holy Quran. It implies fright awakened by a sudden
awareness of imminent danger. It is a sudden sharp apprehension and fear
resulting from the perception of imminent danger (Al-’askari 1997:242). The
English word which conveys these semantic properties is 'panic', which is used
to describe a state of sudden uncontrollable and rapidly spreading fear.
Generally speaking, the semantic components of the Arabic lexical items
examined can be analyzed as shown in table 1.
Hence, the above lexical items are closely related but not total synonyms.
Each one is used in a certain verse in the Holy Qur’an to indicate a specific
meaning which is different from those of other related words. Each word in the
Holy Qur’an is selected and used accurately and precisely. Thus, the role of
translators of the Holy Qur’an is to look for the accurate equivalent for each
synonymous lexical item and not to use them interchangeably as if they were
identical. Translators also have to avoid selecting a very general word to refer
to all of the lexical items, for example using the word 'fear' to refer to all of its
related synonyms. Thus, translators are supposed to translate these words
accurately. However, after examining the three selected translations of the Holy
Qur’an, we have found that these near synonymous lexical items are translated
as if they were complete synonyms. In most verses of the Holy Qur’an,
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'horror'. Shakir has translated it in one verse as 'terror' and in the other as 'fear'.
Thus, it can be observed that the examined lexical item is variously translated as
'fear', 'terror' and 'horror'. None of the three translations have used the word
'panic' which conveys the meaning of sudden fear. The word 'horror', which is
used by Pickthall, might be a better translation equivalent for the other Arabic
synonymous lexical item, i.e. 'ru'b' ()رﻋﺐ. Tables (7&8) clarify this point:
5. Conclusion
The analysis has shown that the Holy Qur’an has many related lexical items
which can be called near but not total or complete synonyms. They have their
differences which must be considered by translators. However, the translations
examined herein have revealed that the translation of these related items is not
accurate, except for the lexical item 'khawf' ﺧﻮف, and that they are usually
translated into more general words in the target language.
Translating the meaning of the Holy Qur’an into other languages demands
the precise selection of synonyms. That is to say there is a distinction between
the minute differences of meaning such that if a word were to be replaced with
its synonym, it would lose its deep significance and delicate representation.
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