A semantic analysis of figurative images in some quranic verses in ghali, pickthall, and arberry's translations

Abstract EN

The present study is a semantic and figurative analysis, based on comparison and analysis of three translations of the glorious Quran done by Ghali, Pickthall and Arberry.

These translations were chosen due to the differences in religion, language and culture.

The researcher chose only ten verses from the holy Quran that contain semantic and figurative issues, followed by a discussion of the three versions of translations.

The study does not aim at judging the works of the three translators; the aim is to discover the similarities and differences among these translations and the areas in which they were unable to capture the intended meaning due to semantic and figurative secrets in the verses.

The comparison is carried out in the light of some important exegeses of the glorious Quran along with important books of Arabic rhetoric and grammar.

Despite doing a great effort that cannot be ignored, none of the three translations is free of mistakes and that's mainly because of their dependence on the literal translation.

It's also concluded that the best method to follow is maintaining the figuration and using extensive footnotes to ensure that the intended meaning is eventually reached.

Ghali's translation is the most precise one since it makes use of the three other ones and corrects some of the mistakes that they make.

Followed by Ghali's translation in the easiness of style and the precision of meaning, does come Pickthall's translation which is direct in its expressions and precise to a great extent.

Regarding Arberry's translation, it is very dense and close to a literal translation.

Though his translation is the best in style, it comes in the third place in terms of the accuracy of meaning although he is considered the best non-Arab one who has faithfully rendered the semantic meaning.

The issue of translatability of figuration in the Quran still needs further considerations and more research.