Summary of Translation as a process supplement:

Annotation: gist, exegesis and rephrasing Good examples of exegetic translation, and also on occasion
gist translation and even rephrasing, can be found in annotated texts. The following is part of the text of
‫ لـبـــيــــد مــــعلقــــة‬,one of the seven pre-Islamic odes known as the ‫ مــعلـقــات‬,with an accompanying
commentary (in Arabic ‫ـــرش‬ َ ْ‫( ح‬by ‫(الزوزنـي‬n.d.: 125-127). Such ancient Arabic poetry makes wide use of
vocabulary, word order, and to some extent also grammatical structures which were probably already
archaic and confined to the poetic register when the poetry was first composed. Considered an essential
element of the Arab literary heritage, the ‫ مــعلقــات‬are studied as part of the school curriculum throughout
the Arab world. Given their difficulty in terms of vocabulary, etc. they are universally studied together
with a commentary on them. In order to make the discussion of the material easier, the text of the relevant
portion of ‫ لبــــــيـــــد مـــــعـلقــــــة‬is presented here with an interlinear-type English translation – i.e. an
English translation which closely mirrors the structure and wording of the Arabic, and is inserted between
each line of the original Arabic text. (Interlinear translation will be discussed further in Chapter

Note also that every line in a classical Arabic poem ‫ قـــصــــيـــدة‬is divided up into two halves or
hemistiches (hemistich‚ in Arabic being ‫ مصراع‬or ‫ شطر‬.The first half of the line is called the ‫ صــدر‬chest‚
also ‫االول الشطر‬ºthe first half‚), and the second the ‫ عـــــجـــــز‬ºrump‚ (also ‫ الثــــــانـي الـشطـر‬ºthe second half‚).
These are separated by a gap in the text which is somewhat longer than that which standardly occurs
between words. Thus in the first is ‫ عجـز‬the while, ‫ِّيار مـحلُّهـا فَـ ُمـقـا ُمـهـا‬ ِ َ‫عـف‬
ُ ‫ت ال ِد‬ َ is ‫ صدر‬the poem this of line

h the in // symbol the used have We. ‫ـــــرجـــــا ُمـــــهـــــا‬ ْ ‫ ِبمـنَى ت َـأَبَّدَ غ‬translation to mark the break
ِ َ‫َـــــولُـهـــــا ف‬
which occurs between the two hemistiches. Parts of the original footnotes for lines 1 and 4 appear after
the end of the extract. Translations of the footnote are added beneath the footnote itself. Note that other
footnotes in the original commentary have not been included here. Elements omitted from the original
footnotes of lines 1 and 4 are marked by [...] in the original Arabic, and by [...] in the English translation.
‫ِّيار محلُّها فَ ُمقا ُمها ِبمنَى تَأَبَّ َد غ َْولُها فَ ِرجا ُمها‬ ِ َ‫عف‬
ُ ‫ت ال ِد‬ َ

‫مــا حل فـــيــه‬.‫ المحل مـن الديار‬.‫ وهو في الـبــيت الزم‬،‫ عفـت الريح المنزل وعفـا المنزل نفـسه عـفـوا وعفـاء‬.‫ يقـال‬،‫ عـفا الزم مـتـعد‬.
‫ ومنـى ينـصــــرف وال‬،‫ منى مــوضع بـحــمى ضــرية غــيــر مـنى الحــرم‬.‫ والمقــام منهـــا مــا طالت اإلقــامــة بـه‬،‫أليام مــعـــدودة‬
 . ‫] يقـــول‬...[ ‫ جـــبــالن مـــعـــروفـــان‬.‫ الغـــول والرجـــام‬. ‫ وكــــذلـك أبد يأبـد أبودا‬،‫ تـوحش‬.‫ تأبد‬.‫ينصــــرف ويُـذ َّكــــر ويؤنِّـث‬
‫ وهذه الـديار كانت بالموضع المـسمى منى‬،‫عــفـت ديار األحبـاب انمحت منازلهم مـا كان منهـا للحلول دون االقامـة وما كان مـنها لإلقـامة‬
‫ الكناية في غـولهـا‬، ‫ وقـد توشـحت الديار الغـــوليـــة والديار الرجـــامـــيــة منـهــا الرتحـــال قطانهـــا واحـــتــمـــال سكانهـــا‬،
‫ فحذف المضاف‬،‫ قوله تأبد غـولهـا أي ديار غولها وديار رجامها‬،‫ورجـامهـا راجـعة الى الديـار‬.

º[The verb] ‫ عـــــــفــــــــا‬is both transitive and intransitive; one may say ‫ عــــــــفـت المـنزل الريح‬ºThe wind
obliterated [‫[ ]عـــفت‬the traces of] the camp-site‚, and ºThe campsite itself was obliterated [‫ ]عــفــا‬.[The
verbal noun is] ‫عــفـــو‬and ‫ عــــفـــــاء‬.In this verse ‫ عـــــفـــــا‬is used intransitively. ‫ ]مـــــحـل‬Mahall] with
respect to camping grounds is where one alights for a limited number of days. ‫ ]مـقــام‬Muqam] is where
one stays for a long time. ‫ ]منـى‬Muna] is a place in the sanctuary of Dirriya, not the Holy Sanctuary [of
Mecca]. The word Muna can be [treated as] grammatically declinable or indeclinable, and it can be
masculine or feminine. Al-Ghaul and Al-Rijam are both well-known mountains. [...] He [The poet] says:
ºThe tracings of the camping places of the beloved ones have been obliterated - those encampments where
they set down without meaning to stay long, and those where they tarried. These camping sites were in a
place called Mina. The camping places at Ghaul and Rijam have become deserted because of the passing
on of their inhabitants and the moving away of those who dwelt in them.‚ There is a metonymy in ‫]غــولهــا‬
its Ghaul] and ‫ ]رجـــامــهـــا‬its Rijam] relating back to ‫ ]الديار‬the camping grounds]; when he [the poet] says
‫ ]غـولهـا تأبد‬ºits Ghaul has become deserted‚] he means ‫ ]فرجامها غولها ديار‬ºthe camping grounds of its Ghaul
and its Rijam‚].

‫ رزقت الـديار والدمـن امطـار االنواء الـربيــــعـــــيــــة فــــأمـــــرعت وأعــشــبت وأصــابهــا مطر ذوات الـرعــود من‬.‫يقـــــول‬
‫ وتحرير المعنى ان تلك الديار ممرعة معشبة لترادف األمطار‬،ً‫الســحــائب مــا كــان منه عــامــا ً بالغا ً مرضيا ً أهله ومـا كان منه لينا ً سهال‬
‫المختلفة عليها ونزاهتها‬.

He [the poet] says: ºThe camping grounds and the dung-heaps have been watered by the rains of the
storms of spring. They have become fertile and green; thundery rain has struck them from the clouds –
some of which [rain] was abundant and sufficient for the [its] people, and some of which was gentle and
slight‚. The gist of the meaning is: ºThose camping grounds are fertile and green because of the repeated
rain of different types which has fallen on them, and because of the purity of this rain

Gist translation is illustrated in the footnote to line 4 ‫ان تلك الديار ممرعه معشبه لترادف االمطار المختلفه عليها ونزاهتها‬
‫و تحرير المعنى‬.Here the fact that this is a gist translation is explicitly signalled by the introductory phrase

Sometimes this is specifically related to the text itself; for instance, in the footnote to line 1, the
commentary on the ‫ الكناية في غـولهـا ورجامـهـا راجعـة‬:follows as reads ‫ غـولها فـرجـامهـا‬phrase ‫ قوله تأبـد‬،‫الى الديار‬
‫ فحـذف المضاف‬،‫غولها أي ديار غـولها وديار رجامـها‬. ºThere is a metonymy in ‫ ]غــولهــا‬its Ghaul] and ‫ ]رجـــامـــهـــا‬its
Rijam] relating back to ‫ ]الديار‬the camping grounds]
 the footnote contains a certain amount of more general grammatical information; for example in the
footnote to line 1: ‫ ومــــتـــعـــد الزم عـــفـــا‬،‫ يـقـــال‬.‫[الـريح عـــفت‬verb The[º. e.i, ،‫المنزل وعفا المنزل نفسه عـفوا وعفاء‬
‫وهو في البيت الزم‬. ‫ عــفــا‬is both transitive and intransitive; one may say ‫ المـنزل الريح عـــفـت‬ºThe wind
obliterated [‫[ عفت‬the camp-site‚, and ºThe campsite itself was obliterated [‫ ]عـــــفـــــا‬.[The verbal noun is]
‫ عـــــفـــــو‬and ‫ عـــــفــــــاء‬.In this verse ‫ عـــــفــــــا‬is used intransitively.‚ Here the information that
‫ عــــــــــــفــــــــــــا‬can be both transitive and intransitive, and that it has verbal nouns ‫ عــفـــو‬and ‫ عــــفــــاء‬goes
beyond simple commentary on the text itself

For line 4 we ... ‫ رزقت الـديار والـدمن امـطار االنـواء الربـيــــعـــــيــــة فـــــأمـــــرعت‬.‫ يقـــــول‬find ‫وأعشـبت وأصابهـا مطر‬
ً ‫ذوات الرعود من السـحائب ما كـان منه عامـا ً بالغا‬camping æThe: says] poet the [ºHe ‫مــــرضـــيــــا ً أهله ومــــا كـــان مـنه‬
ً‫ليـنا ً ســـهــــال‬grounds and the dung-heaps have been watered by the rains of the storms of spring. They have
become fertile and green; thundery rain has struck them from the clouds – some of which [rain] was
abundant and sufficient for the [its] people, and some of which was gentle and slightÆ.‚