Translating Qur’anic ‘X-phemisms’ Muslims live by
A pragmasemantic reading
This study employs a pragmasemantic approach to investigate the challenges Qur’an translators encounter when rendering
Qur’anic euphemisms of licit intercourse (X-phemisms) into English. To achieve the objectives of the study, two understudied translations
have been selected for a contrastive analysis of source language X-phemisms and their target language renderings. The analysis reveals that
Qur’anic X-phemisms do not lend themselves to an easy translation due to cultural and linguistic idiosyncrasies; they hold a variety of
lexical-semantic relations, and branch out into three broad ramifications: procreation, protection, and pleasure. Several Qur’anic
X-phemisms have undergone semantic change through meaning-related processes, including generalization, particularization, amelioration,
pejoration, and opposition. Some linguistic mechanisms have been manipulated to create euphemistic substitutes for direct references to
marital sex through periphrasis, collocation, and figuration, all of which flout the Cooperative Principle in favor of the Politeness
Principle.
Article outline
- Introduction
- Theoretical preliminaries
- Method
- Sample analysis
- Metonyms and particularizations
- Metaphor and implication
- Overstatement
- Understatement
- Discussion
- Conclusion
- Acknowledgements
- Notes
-
References
References
Abdel Haleem, Muhammad
2004 The Qur’an: A New Translation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Abdul-Raof, Hussein
2004 “
The Qur’an: Limits of translatability.” In
Cultural Encounters in Translation from Arabic, ed. by
Said Faiq, 91–106. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Abū-Zulāl, Iṣām
2001 Al-Taʿbīr ʿan al-Maḥẓūr al-Luġawī wa al-Muḥassin al-Lafẓī fī al-Qurʾān al-Karīm [Expression of Taboos and Euphemisms in the Holy Qur’an]. Ph.D. dissertation, Cairo University.
Al-ʿAskarī, Abū Hilāl
1952 Al-Ṣināʿatayn: Al-Kitāba wa al-Šiʿr [
The Two Crafts: Writing and Poetry], first edition, ed. by
ʿAlī M. al-Baǧāwī and
Muḥammad A. Ibrāhīm. Cairo: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Kutub al-ʿArabiyya.
Al-ʿAskarī, Abū Hilāl
1997 Al-Furūq al-Luġawiyya [
The Linguistic Differences]. Edited by
Muḥammad I. Sālim. Cairo: Dār al-ʿIlm wal-Ṯaqāfa.
Al-Bidīrī, Kāẓim
2003 Ẓāhirat al-Taġlīb fī al-ʿArabiyya [The Phenomenon of Prioritized Selection in Arabic]. M.A. dissertation, Kufa University.
Al-Ǧurǧānī, Abū al-ʿAbbās
1908 Al-Muntaḫab min Kināyāt al-Udabāʾ wa Išārāt al-Bulaġāʾ [
The Selected Collection of Metonymies by Men of Letters and References by Rhetoricians], first edition, ed. by
Muḥammad Badr al-Dīn al-Ḥalabī. Cairo: Maṭbaʿat al-Saʿāda.
Al-Hadary, Tariq
2008 Equivalence and Translatability of Qur’anic Discourse: A Comparative and Analytical Evaluation. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Leeds.
Al-Hamad, Mohammad and Asma Salman
2013 “
The translatability of euphemism in the Holy Quran.”
European Scientific Journal 9 (2): 190–214.
Al-Khatib, Mohamed
2012 “
Politeness in the Holy Qur’an: A sociolinguistic and pragmatic perspective.”
Intercultural Pragmatics 9 (4): 479–509.
Allan, Keith and Kate Burridge
1991 Euphemism and Dysphemism: Language Used as a Shield and Weapon. New York: Oxford University Press.
Allan, Keith and Kate Burridge
2006 Forbidden Words: Taboo and the Censoring of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Al-Qadi, Nasser
2009 “
A sociolinguistic comparison of euphemisms in English and Arabic.”
King Saud University’s Journal of Language and Translation 211: 13–22.
Al-Qayrawānī, Abū ʿAlī
1981 Al-ʿUmda fī Maḥāsin al- Šiʿr wa Ādābih wa Naqdih [
The Mainstay of Poetic Amenities, Literature, and Criticism].
5th edition. Edited by
Muḥammad Muḥyī al-Dīn Abd al-Ḥamīd. Beirut: Dār al-Ǧīl.
Al-Qurṭubī, Abū ʿAbdallāh
2006 Al-Ǧāmiʿ li-Aḥkām Al-Qur’ān [
The Collection of Qur’anic Injunctions].
1st edition. Edited by
ʿA. al-Turkī. Beirut: Muʾassasat al-Risāla.
Al-Rāzī, Faḫr al-Dīn
1981 Tafsīr al-Faḫr al-Rāzī [
Al-Faḫr al-Rāzī’s Exegesis].
1st edition. Beirut: Dār Al-Fikr.
Al-Ṯaʿālibī, Abū Manṣūr
1998 Al-Kināya wa al-Taʿrīḍ [
Metonymy and Innuendo]. Edited by
ʿĀʾiša Ḥusayn Farīd. Cairo: Dār Qibāʾ.
Al-Ṯaʿālibī, Abū Manṣūr
2000 Fiqh al-Luġa wa Asrār al-ʿArabiyya [
The Philology and Secrets of Arabic].
2nd edition. Edited by
Yāsīn al-Ayyūbī. Beirut: al-Maktaba al-ʿAṣriyya.
Al-Ṭībī, Šaraf al-Dīn
1977 Al-Tibyān fī al-Bayān [
Elucidation of Eloquence]. Edited by
ʿAbd al-Sattār H. M. Zamūt. Ph.D. dissertation, Al-Azhar University.
Al-Zamaḫšarī, Abū al-Qasim
1998 Al-Kaššāf [
The Detector].
1st edition. Edited by
ʿĀdil. A. ʿAbd al-Mawjūd and
ʿAlī. M. Muʿawwaḍ. Riyadh: Maktabat al-ʿUbaykān.
Al-Zarkašī, Badr al-Dīn
n.d.
Al-Burhān fī ʿUlūm al-Qurʾān [
Evidence for Qur’anic Sciences] Edited by
Muḥammad Abū al-Faḍl Ibrāhīm Cairo Maktabat Dār al-Turāṯ
Al-Zāwī, al-Ṭāhir
n.d.
Muḫtār al-Qāmūs [
The Selected Dictionary]. Tunis: Al-Dār al-ʿArabiyya lil-Kitāb.
Arundale, Robert
2010 “
Constituting face in conversation: face, facework, and interactional achievement.”
Journal of Pragmatics 421: 2078–2105.
Baker, Mona
1992 In Other Words: A Coursebook on Translation. London: Routledge.
Black, Elizabeth
2006 Pragmatic Stylistics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Blake, Barry
2010 Secret Language: Codes, Tricks, Spies, Thieves, and Symbols. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Boswell, Freddy
2009 “
‘Are you sure you can say that?!’ Fresh considerations in translating euphemisms.”
The Bible Translator 37 (1): 139–143.
Brown, Penelope and Stephen Levinson
1987 Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Burchfield, Robert
1985 “
An outline history of euphemisms in English.” In
Fair of Speech: The Uses of Euphemism, ed. by
Dennis. J. Enright, 13–31. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Burridge, Kate
2004 Blooming English: Observations on the Roots, Cultivation and Hybrids of the English Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Burridge, Kate
2006 “
Taboo, euphemism, and political correctness.” In
Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, ed. by
Keith Brown, 455–462. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Bussmann, Hadumod
1996 Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics. Trans. and ed. by
Gregory P. Trauth and
Kerstin Kazzazi. London: Routledge.
Catford, John
1965 A Linguistic Theory of Translation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Crespo-Fernández, Eliecer
2005 “
Euphemistic strategies in politeness and face concerns.”
Pragmalinguística 131: 77–86.
Crespo-Fernández, Eliecer
2014 “
Euphemism and political discourse in the British Regional Press.”
Brno Studies in English 40 (1): 5–26.
Crespo-Fernández, Eliecer
2015 Sex in Language: Euphemistic and Dysphemistic Metaphors in Internet-based Forums. London: Bloomsbury.
Cruse, Alan
2006 A Glossary of Semantics and Pragmatics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Dynel, Marta
2009 “
Where cooperation meets politeness: revisiting politeness models in view of the Gricean framework.”
Brno Studies in English 35 (1): 23–43.
Eble, Connie
1996 Slang and Sociability: In-group Language among College Students. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press.
Ellingworth, Paul and Aloo Mojola
1986 “
Translating euphemisms in the Bible.”
The Bible Translator 60 (3): 132–139.
Epstein, Jeffrey
1985 “
Sex and euphemism.” In
Fair of Speech: The Uses of Euphemism, ed. by
Dennis J. Enright, 56–71. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Faiq, Said
ed. 2004 Cultural Encounters in Translating from Arabic. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Farghal, Mohammed
1995 “
Euphemism in Arabic: A Gricean interpretation.”
Anthropological Linguistics 37 (3): 366–378.
Farghal, Mohammed
2005 “
Arabic euphemism in English translation.”
International Journal of Arabic-English Studies 61: 57–70.
Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman, and Nina Hyams
2003 An Introduction to Language. 7th edition. Boston, MA: Thomson Wadsworth.
Galal, Mohamed
2014 “
Death euphemism in English and Arabic: A conceptual metaphorization approach.”
International Journal of Linguistics 6 (1): 153–170.
Goffman, Erving
1967 Interaction Ritual: Essays on Face-to-Face Behaviour. New York: Double Day.
Grice, Paul
1975 “
Logic and conversation.” In
Syntax and Semantics 3: Speech Acts, ed. by
Peter Cole and
Jerry L. Morgan, 41–58. New York: Academic Press.
Ham, Kerry
2005 “
The linguistics of euphemism: A diachronic study of euphemism formation.”
Journal of Language and Linguistics 4 (2): 227–263.
Hassanein, Hamada
2017 “
Translating aspects of lexical-semantic opposition from Qur’anic Arabic into English: a cross-linguistic perspective.”
Perspectives: Studies in Translation Theory and Practice 25 (1): 137–156.
Hatim, Basil and Ian Mason
1997 The Translator as Communicator. London: Routledge.
Haugh, Michael
2007 “
The co-constitution of politeness implicature in conversation.”
Journal of Pragmatics 39 (1): 84–110.
House, Juliane
2018 Translation: The Basics. London: Routledge.
Ibn al-Aṯīr, Ḍiyāʾ al-Dīn
n.d.
Al-Maṯal al- Sāʾir fī Adab al-Kātib wa al-Šāʿir [
The Common Example of the Literature of Man of letters and the Poet] Edited by
Aḥmad al-Ḥufī and
Badawī Ṭabāna Cairo Dār Nahḍit Misr
Ibn ʿĀšūr, al-Ṭāhir
1984 Tafsīr al-Taḥrīr wa al-Tanwīr [
The Exegesis of Liberation and Enlightenment]. Tunis: al-Dār al-Tūnisiyya li-Našr.
Ibn Fāris, Abū al-Ḥusayn
1997 Al-Ṣāḥibī fī fiqh al-Luġa al-ʿArabiyya wa Masāʾilihā wa Sunan al-ʿArab fī Kalāmihā [
The Companion in Arabic Philology and its Issues and the Practices of Arabs’ Speech]. Edited by
Aḥmad Ḥasan Basaǧ. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya.
Ibn Manẓūr, Abū al-Faḍl
n.d.
Lisān al-ʿArab [
The Arabs’ Tongue].
2nd Volume. Beirut: Dār Ṣādir.
Ibn Qutayba, Abū Muḥammad
1996 ʿUyūn al-Aḫbār [
The News’ Eyes].
3rd Volume. Cairo: Dār al-Kutub.
Ibn Wahb, Abū al-Ḥusayn
1930 Al-Burhān fī Wuǧūh al-Bayān [
Evidence for Aspects of Eloquence]. Edited by
Ḥifnī Muḥammad Šaraf. Cairo: Maktabat al-Šabāb.
Jackson, Howard
1988 Learning about Language: Words and their Meaning. London: Longman.
Kittay, Eva
1997 “
Women as metaphor.” In
Feminist Social Thought: A Reader, ed. by
Diana Tietjens Meyers, 264–285. London: Routledge.
Lakoff, Robin
1989 “
The limits of politeness: therapeutic and courtroom discourse.”
Multilingua 8 (2–3): 101–130.
Lane, Edward
1968 An Arabic-English Lexicon. 6th Part. Lebanon: Librairie Du Liban.
Leech, Geoffrey
1983 Principles of Pragmatics. London: Longman.
Leech, Geoffrey
2007 “
Politeness: Is there an East-West divide?”
Journal of Politeness Research 3 (2): 167–206.
Lyons, John
1977 Semantics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Mustafa, Burçin
2019 “
Ambiguity, ideology, and doctrine propagation in Qur’an translation.”
Journal of Qur’anic Studies 21 (1): 21–49.
Naudé, Jacobus
2010 “
Religious
translation.” In
Handbook of Translation Studies, ed.
by
Yves Gambier and
Luc van Doorslaer, 285–293. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Rabab’ah, Ghaleb and Ali Al-Qarni
2012 “
Euphemism in Saudi Arabic and British English.”
Journal of Pragmatics 441: 730–743.
Radulović, Milica
2016 “
Euphemisms through time: The rhetorical power of palliation.”
Linguistics and Literature 14 (2): 173–187.
Rawson, Hugh
1981 A Dictionary of Euphemisms and Other Doubletalk. New York: Crown Publishers.
Robinson, Doug
2003 Becoming a Translator: An Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Translation. 2nd edition. London: Routledge.
Ross, Alison
1998 The Language of Humour. London: Routledge.
Sanatifar, Mohammad and Mohammad Kenevisi
Thompson, Katrina
2017 POPOBAWA: Tanzanian Talk, Global Misreadings. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Trask, Robert
1994 Language Change. London: Routledge.
Trask, Robert
2010 Why do Languages Change? Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Venuti, Lawrence
1998 The Scandals of Translation: Towards an Ethics of Difference. London: Routledge.
Warren, Beatrice
1992 “
What euphemisms tell us about the interpretation of words.”
Studia Linguistica 6 (2): 130–172.
Webster’s New Dictionary of Synonyms: A Dictionary of Discriminated Synonyms with Antonyms and Analogous and Contrasted Words
1984 Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, Inc.
Wierzbicka, Anna
2006 “
Intercultural pragmatics and communication.” In
Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, ed. by
Keith Brown, 735–742. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Yüksel, Edip, Layth al-Shaiban, and Martha Schulte-Nafeh
2007 Qur’an: A Reformist Translation. Breinigsville, PA: Brainbow Press.
Cited by
Cited by 1 other publications
Hassanein, Hamada
2022.
Translating Semantic Cases from Qur’anic Arabic into English.
Journal of Intercultural Communication Research 51:1
► pp. 58 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 5 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.