Article published in:
FORUM
Vol. 17:2 (2019) ► pp. 127–148

On the translatability of Qur’anic pun

| Kuwait University
| The Hashemite University
This paper explores the translatability of Qur’anic pun. With reference to a phalanx of authoritative Qur’anic exegetes and three leading Qur’anic translations, and by drawing on ʿAtīq’s (1985) taxonomy of Arabic pun, and Delabastita’s (2004) model of pun translation, the study examines a four-fold classification of pun: (1) abstract pun, (2) immediate-meaning-oriented pun, (3) far-meaning-oriented pun, and (4) aided pun. Given the semantic indirectness and sophistication immanent in punning, it is argued that Qur’anic pun, as a rhetorical device, is quite thorny from a translational standpoint. The study reveals that three out of nine translation strategies have been used: the literal strategy, the manipulative strategy, and the situational strategy. The literal strategy capitalizes on the immediate meaning, and ‘auctions off’ or ‘pulverizes’ the punning meaning, which, subsequently, may result in incommensurate translation damage. The situational strategy involves adding, for the entire translation, a descriptive word or phrase between brackets, and the manipulative strategy advocates text-in-context perspective. The study wraps up with a proposal for the interpretive strategy, which hinges upon exegesis-driven paraphrasing. This particular translation strategy has a greater emancipatory potential.
Keywords: Qur’anic pun, translatability of pun, translation damage, manipulative translation strategy, interpretive translation strategy
Keywords: calembours coranique, traduisibilité du jeu de mots, dommages de traduction, stratégie de traduction manipulative, stratégie de traduction interprétative
Published online: 03 December 2019
https://doi.org/10.1075/forum.18017.kha
References

References

al-Hajjaj, Hamid Hussein, and Mayyadah Nazar Ali
2013 “Pun in Arabic Classical Rhetoric with Reference to Translation.” Al-Fatih Journal 54, 1–48.Google Scholar
Al-Kharabsheh, Aladdin, and Ghaith Al-Jdayeh
2017 “Translatability of Qur’anic Antonymy.” Jordan Journal of Modern Languages and Literature 9 (1):51–72.Google Scholar
al-Qazwīni, Jalāl
1989 al-Īdāḥ fi-ʿUlūm al-Balaġa. Vol. 1. Beriut: Dar Al-Kitaab Al-’Alami.Google Scholar
al-Qurtubi, Qazeh
1998 al-Jamiʿ li-Aḥkām al-Qur’an. Vol. 1. Beirut: Dar Al-Fiker.Google Scholar
al-Razi, Ali
1995 al-Tafsīr al-Kabīr wa Mafatīḥ al-Ġayb. Vol. 3. Beirut: Dar Al-Fiker.Google Scholar
al-Sabuni, Ali
1996 Ṣafwit al-Tafasīr. Vol. 1. Beirut: Dar Al-Fiker.Google Scholar
Sha’rawi, Mohammed Mitwalli
1991 Ḫawaḍer Ḥawla al-Qur’an al-Karīm. Vol. 2. Cairo: Akhbaar Al-Yawom.Google Scholar
at-Tabari, Jarīr
1994 Jamiʿ al-Bayan fi-Ta’wīl al-Qur’an. Vol. 4. Beirut: Mo’assast Al-Risalah.Google Scholar
Al Aqad, Mohammed, Kaur, Kulwindr, Bin Sapar, Ahmad, Kadhim, Kais, Salleh, Nor
2017 “Translation of Selected Pun Words from the Holy Quran into English.” TOJET: The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology Special Issue for INTE 1–9.Google Scholar
Ali, Yusuf
1983 The Holy Qur’an: Text, Translation and Commentary. Kuwait, Al-Murgab: Thates-Salasil.Google Scholar
Asad, Muhammad
1984 The Message of the Quran. Vol. 1. Gibraltar: Dar al-Andalus.Google Scholar
ʿAtīq, Abdul Aziz
1985 ʿElm al- Badīʿ. First ed. Beirut: Dar al-Nahḍa al-ʿArabiyya lil-Ḍibaʿa wal-Našr wal-Tawzīʿ.Google Scholar
Attardo, Salvatore
1994 Linguistic theories of humor. Vol. 1: Walter de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Azaryoun, Mina, and Zargham Ghabanchi
2016 “Translation of Puns in the Holly Quran.” International Journal of Educational Investigations 3.Google Scholar
Bader, Yousef
2015 “A Linguistic and Cultural Analysis of Pun Expressions in Journalistic Articles in Jordan.” Arab World English Journal (AWEJ) Special Issue on Translation 4:53–67.Google Scholar
Chengzhi, Zhang, and Goh Sang Seong
2013 “The significance of translating the puns in Shakespeare’s sonnets.” US-China Foreign Language 11:84–90.Google Scholar
Chiaro, Delia
1992 The Language of Jokes: Analyzing Verbal Play. London: Routledge Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Cruz, Isabel
1999 “Lexical Ambiguity and Wordplay in Shakespeare.” Sederi 10:31–36.Google Scholar
Culler, Jonathan D.
1988 On puns: The foundation of letters: Internet-First University Press.Google Scholar
Dastjerdi, Hossein Vahid, and Elaheh Jamshidian
2010 “A Sacramental wordplay: An investigation of pun translatability in the two English translations of the Quran.” Asian Social Science 7 (1):133.Google Scholar
Delabastita, Dirk
1996 “Introduction.” The Translator. Studies in Intercultural Communication. Special Issue on Wordplay and Translation 2 (2):1–22.Google Scholar
2004 “Wordplay as a translation problem: A linguistic perspective.” Uberstzung translation traduction, 1 (1):600–606.Google Scholar
Giorgadze, Meri
2014 “Linguistic features of pun, its typology and classification.” European Scientific Journal 2:272–275.Google Scholar
Gottlieb, Henrik
1997 “You got the picture? On the polysemiotics of subtitling wordplay.” In Traductio: Essays on punning and translation, ed Dirk Delabastita. London and New York: Routledge/Taylor and Francis Group.Google Scholar
Gustafsson, Johan
2010 “Puns in Japanese advertisements.” Centre for Languages and Literature Lund University.Google Scholar
Ibn Kathīr, Amr
1999 Tafsīr al-Qur’an al-Athīm. Vol. 1. Riyadh: Beit Al-Afkaar Al-Dawliyyah.Google Scholar
Jing, He
2010 “The translation of English and Chinese puns from the perspective of Relevance Theory.” The journal of specialised translation 13:81–99.Google Scholar
Jojić, Olja
2013 “Lexical pun in sitcoms.” Facta universitatis-series: Linguistics and Literature 11 (1):23–34.Google Scholar
Khalaf, I., and M. Yusoff
1931 “The Qur’an: Limits of translatability.” International Journal on Qur’anic Research 2:73–85.Google Scholar
Khanfar, A. K.
2013 “The Translation of Puns A Semantic or Pragmatic Equivalent.” ( Unpublished doctoral dissertation ). An-Najah University, Nablus, Palestine.Google Scholar
Korčák, Jan
2012 “Word Play in Advertising: A Linguistic Analysis.” Faculty of Humanities, Tomas Bata University.Google Scholar
Lems, Kristin
2013 “Laughing All the Way: Teaching English Using Puns.” English Teaching Forum.Google Scholar
Leppihalme, Ritva
1997 Culture bumps: an empirical approach to the translation of allusions. Vol. 10: Multilingual matters.Google Scholar
Ling, Xiang
2006 “On the Pun in English Advertisement/du mot a double sens dans la publicite anglaise.” Canadian Social Science 2 (4):68–70.Google Scholar
Mahood, Molly Maureen
2003 Shakespeare’s wordplay: Routledge.Google Scholar
Nash, Walter
1985 The Language of Humour. New York: Longman Group.Google Scholar
Oettinger, Anthony G.
1960 “Automatic Language Translation: Lexical and Technical Aspects, with Particular Reference to Russian. Harvard Monographs in Applied Science, Number 8.” CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Partington, Alan Scott
2009 “A linguistic account of wordplay: The lexical grammar of punning.” Journal of Pragmatics 41 (9):1794–1809. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Pickthall, Marmaduke
1992 The Meaning of the Glorious Koran: An Explanatory Translation. London: Everyman’s Library.Google Scholar
Redfern, W.
1985 Puns. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Wu, Ying, and Qi Pan
2012 “Strategies on Translation of English Puns.” Theory and Practice in Language Studies 2 (10):2133. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Zavišić, Mirela
2014 “Puntastic solutions: the treatment of puns in Russian and Croatian translations of Alice’s adventures in Wonderland.” Hieronymus 1:58–81.Google Scholar

Electronic references

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
https://​www​.ahdictionary​.com​/word​/search​.html​?q​=pun