Translation Techniques in Two Syro-Arabic Versions of Ruth.

• Author: Heinrichs, Wolfhart
• Position: Book review

Translation Techniques in Two Syro-Arabic Versions of Ruth. By PER A. BENGTSSON. Studia Orientalia Lundensia. Nova Series, vol. 3. Stockholm: ALMQVIST AND WIKSELL INTERNATIONAL, 2003. Pp. 195.

The present work is a follow-up to the author's previous work: Two Arabic Versions of the Book of Ruth, Text Edition and Language Studies (Lund, 1995). The somewhat confusing adjective "Syro-Arabic" in the title indicates the direction of the translations from Syriac into Arabic. One of the two Arabic versions in question was produced in Coptic circles, represented by five mss. written in Egypt between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries; the other was written in Melchite circles in Damascus and preserved in two mss., one from 1235-1238, the other from 1690. The "Coptic" version is more of an idiomatic translation, while the Melchite one is of the literal kind, adhering closely to the Peshitta text. It is interesting to note that the idiomatic version did not supersede the literal one, although the latter can be quite unintelligible at times. One wonders if it survived as a help to understand the Syriac text. According to the author, both versions are based on the ancient Peshitta tradition; influences of the later Jacobite and Nestorian Peshitta(s) are traceable, but not to any large degree.

The main part of the book is an exemplification and categorization of translation techniques as they occur in the idiomatic "Coptic" version; the Melchite version, following closely the Peshitta text, has not much to offer in this respect. The categories are (examples in parentheses):

(1) Word order: (a) plain change of word order (ella 'ammek(y) nezal vs. wa-lakin nantaliqu ma'aki), (b) change of word order combined with expansion (w-atar da-hwayt nehwe brik vs. baraka llahu 'ala l-mawdi'i lladi kunti fih); (c) change of word order and reduction (w-emar l-hasode slama 'amkon vs. fa-sallama 'ala l-hassadin), and (d) change of word order and different readings (w-emar lah Bu'az b-'eddana d-saruta vs. fa-lamma hana l-ghada qala laha Ba'az).

(2) Expansions: (a) reinforcement of words (l-ar'ek(y) wa-l-'ammek(y) vs. ila ardiki wa-biladi sha'biki), (b) explanatory expansions (mettul d-ena sebat li men da-l-mehwa l-gabra vs. li-anni qad Sihtu wa-juztu hadda l-tazwij), (c) parallelism (w-Marya ne'bed 'amken rahme vs. wa-l-rabbu yarha-mukuma wa-yun'imu 'alaykuma), (d) translational doublet (w-ayka d-te'mrin e'mar 'ammek(y) 'am(y) vs. wa-haytu ma sakanti sakantu ma'aki...