A study of al-ta’ajjub (exclamation)‎ in the glorious Qur’an with reference to translation into Arabic

Abstract EN

This paper aims at studying the phenomenon of ‘al-taϚajjub’ (exclamation) in The Glorious QurɁaan.

It sheds some light on the different forms and meanings of ‘al-taϚajjub’ following a rhetorical approach.

It also pinpoints areas in the QurɁaanic ‘aayaat’ (verses) posing difficulties to translators.

Renderings by five Moslem and non-Moslem translators have been chosen as samples for analysis.

The renditions are discussed with the aim of showing the most appropriate areas of success and proposing slightly modified renderings when necessary.

The study hypothesizes that ‘al-taϚajjub’ does not stand as equivalent to ‘exclamation’ in English.

It also hypothesizes that there is no one to one formal correspondence between the forms of ‘al-taϚajjub’ in Arabic and their counterparts in English.

Consequently, translators use different devices to transfer the forms and meanings of ‘al-taϚajjub’ to English.

The procedure followed in this work involves a description of the phenomenon of ‘al-taϚajjub’ in Arabic, its forms and functions, and its counterpart in English, as well as analysis of renderings by five well-known translators chosen as subjects in order to discover the areas of success or failure they adopted in their transferring the Glorious ‘aayaat’ involving ‘altaϚajjub’.

Proposed renderings have been provided when necessary.

The main conclusion the study arrived at is that there is no one – to – one formal correspondence between ‘al-taϚajjub’ in Arabic and their counterparts in English which can be attributed to different devices used in Arabic as well as English.