A pragma-linguistic analysis of selected Arabic to English translations for the (Polysemic)‎ Arabic lexeme of “زعم’ “Za'ama-to claim’ in the gracious Quran

الملخص EN

Translation shortcomings stimulate investigating translated texts accuracy.

Translation process faces lots of challenges at different levels of language stretch.

Translators share one opinion regarding the importance of the verb in a sentence which is, to translate a sentence correctly, one needs first to translate its verb accurately.

This study presents a translation assessing model by examining the accuracy of nine selected translations of the Arabic verb ‘زعم’ ‘za’ama’ which semantically denotes ‘to claim’.

The verb lexemes have been repeatedly taken place in fourteen verses for seventeen times in the Gracious Quran.

Translation at verb level presents an ideal model of how to make translation process fruitful.

It is the essential step to translate the rest of the sentence and rest of a text accurately.

However, to extend this work outcomes value, the under-examination translations are chosen for their widely distribution and usage by non-Arab Muslims as well as non-Muslim readers all over the world.

The selected translations are by; Abdullah Y.

Ali, Muhammad Assad, Muhammad Pickthall, Habib Shakir, Talal Itani, Shah Faridul-Haq, Wahid-ul-din Khan, Mawlawi Shir Ali and Taki-Khan.

The study adopts a pragma-linguistic method to check up the appropriateness of English word selection by translators for the Arabic verb ‘ زعمza’ama’ as it concerns the ability to use appropriate linguistic means to perform a given speech act.

The study is designed to include an introduction plus three sections, and a conclusion.

The first section introduces the meaning of the verb ‘ زعمza’ama’.

Section two explores the importance of restoring the context in translating the verses.

The analysis of the selected verses that contain the lexemes of the Arabic verb ‘ زعمza’ama’ is the mission of section three.

The study concludes that the verb ‘ زعمza’ama’ has occurred to be in different contexts and each context denotes different meaning and thus it requires different corresponding equivalent English wording.

However, up to analysis outcomes, the study concludes that translators need to notice the role of context in reproducing the meaning while translation process.

It also concludes that the examined translations in common have shortcomings because the contextualization related the verb ‘ زعمza’ama’ interpretation was not perfectly considered.

Nevertheless, the study sets an analytical approach which can be applied to assess the translations to the languages other than English.