Translating Religion. Linguistic Analysis of Judeo-Arabic Sacred Texts from Egypt (Etudes Sur Le Judaisme Medieval)

391 Pages·2009·1.87 MB·English

by  Benjamin H. Hary

Translating Religion
Études sur le Judaïsme Médiéval
Fondées par
Georges Vajda
Dirigées par
Paul B. Fenton
TOME XXXVIII
Translating Religion
Linguistic Analysis of Judeo-Arabic
Sacred Texts from Egypt
by
Benjamin H. Hary
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2009
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hary, Benjamin H.
Translating religion : linguistic analysis of Judeo-Arabic sacred texts from Egypt /
by Benjamin H. Hary.
p. cm. — (Etudes sur le judaïsme médiéval ; v. 38)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-90-04-17382-8 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Judeo-Arabic language—
Dialects—Egypt. 2. Judeo-Arabic literature—Egypt—History and criticism. 3. Jews—
Egypt—Languages. I. Title. II. Series.
PJ5079.5.E49H37 2009
492.7’70962—dc22
2009003328
ISSN 1568-5004
ISBN 978 90 04 17382 8
© Copyright 2009 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
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In memory of my father
Meir Hary (1924–2003)
In recognition of my grandmother
Rachel Hary (1903–1987)
and in honor of my brother
Eli Harry (1950– )

C
ONTENTS
List of Figures and Tables....................................................................xi
Preface................................................................................................xiii
Technical Notes..................................................................................xix
Introduction......................................................................................xxiii
PART I
J -A : T L A -S J
UDEO RABIC HE ANGUAGE OF RABIC PEAKING EWS
Chapter One – The Jewish Linguistic Spectrum.....................................5
The Sociolinguistics of Jewish Varieties.....................................5
Issues of Terminology ..............................................................8
The Emergence and Development of Jewish Varieties..............13
Crossing Religious Boundaries................................................16
The Characteristics of Jewish Varieties ...................................19
A List of Jewish Varieties........................................................25
Chapter Two – Judeo-Arabic within the Jewish Linguistic
Spectrum.......................................................................................29
An Overview of Judeo-Arabic................................................29
The History of Judeo-Arabic...................................................32
The Structure of Judeo-Arabic.................................................37
The Judeo-Arabic Continuum .................................................39
The Diachronic Development of Judeo-Arabic
Continuglossia ..................................................................41
The Current State of Judeo-Arabic.........................................44
CONTENTS
Chapter Three – The Translation of Sacred Texts into
Judeo-Arabic (the ¡ar˙) ................................................................51
Translation and Issues of Sacredness.......................................52
The Translator’s Dilemma.......................................................57
The Development of the ¡ar˙ ..................................................60
The Cairo Collection................................................................63
Previous Studies on the ¡ar˙....................................................65
The Framework for the Linguistic Analysis of the ¡ar˙............68
Head-to-Toe Scanning.............................................................74
The Translation Continuum....................................................83
The Work of the ¡ar˙an...........................................................85
Chapter Four – Spoken Egyptian Judeo-Arabic: The Evidence
from the ¡ar˙ Texts.......................................................................91
Spoken Egyptian Judeo-Arabic — An Introduction................91
Methodology..........................................................................93
1. Phonetics and Phonology...................................................100
2. Morphology .....................................................................112
3. Syntax ...............................................................................125
4. Lexicon ..............................................................................131
5. Summary of Colloquial Features of Spoken Egyptian
Judeo-Arabic...................................................................134
Chapter Five – Additional Linguistic Issues of the ¡ar˙ Tradition......137
Issue One: Pseudocorrections ...............................................137
Issue Two: The Theoretical Background of the Use of
Hebrew and Aramaic Components in Judeo-Arabic.........144
Cases of Interference in Direction A...........................148
Cases of Interference in Direction B...........................153
Issue Three: The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon in the ¡ur¥˙...156
Summary...............................................................................159
viii
CONTENTS
PART II
A L M J -A T
INGUISTIC ODEL OF THE UDEO RABIC RANSLATIONS
S T
OF ACRED EXTS
Chapter Six – Applying the Model......................................................163
Introductory Notes ...............................................................163
Methodological Notes...........................................................165
Dynamic Literal/Interpretive Linguistic Tension:
Complex Cases................................................................166
Calque Translations...............................................................178
The Organization of the Examples.........................................182
Chapter Seven – The Phrase and the Word Levels...............................183
Word-for-Word Translation..................................................183
Word Order: Syntactic Adaptation........................................188
Word Order: Adverbs............................................................192
Word Order: Numerals..........................................................198
Lexicon: Semantic Considerations.........................................200
Lexicon: Sound/Appearance Considerations.........................205
Chapter Eight – The Morphosyntactic Level.....................................213
Negation: Nominal ................................................................213
Negation: Verbal....................................................................215
Prepositions .........................................................................219
Coordinating Particles and Conjunctions...............................231
Conditional Particles.............................................................234
Independent Personal Pronouns............................................237
Pronominal Suffixes..............................................................238
Relative Pronouns.................................................................240
Demonstrative Pronouns ......................................................244
Interrogative Pronouns and Particles.....................................248
Verb Conjugation: Infinitives.................................................250
Verb Conjugation: Finite Verbs..............................................256
ix