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. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. printed in the netherlands È·‡ ¯ÎÊÏ ®≤∞∞≥—±π≤¥© ȯ‰ ¯È‡Ó ®±π∏∑—±π∞≥© ȯ‰ ÏÁ¯ È˙·Ò ‰¢·ˆ˙ ÌÈÈÁÏ Ï„·ÈÈ ÈÁ‡ „·ÎÏ ȯ‰ Èχ 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– ) CONTENTS List of Figures and Tables....................................................................xi Preface................................................................................................xiii Technical Notes..................................................................................xix Introduction......................................................................................xxiii PART I JUDEO-ARABIC: THE LANGUAGE OF ARABIC-SPEAKING JEWS 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 LINGUISTIC MODEL OF THE JUDEO-ARABIC TRANSLATIONS OF SACRED TEXTS 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 CONTENTS Cases: Accusative .................................................................257 Cases: Directional .................................................................264 Definiteness..........................................................................266 Agreement: Number ..............................................................274 Agreement: Gender...............................................................280 Tense and Aspect..................................................................287 Mood ....................................................................................293 Voice: Passive .......................................................................295 Numerals with Counted Nouns .............................................299 Chapter Nine – The Segment Level ....................................................303 Assimilation..........................................................................304 Emphatization and Deemphatization....................................305 Elision ..................................................................................306 Orthographic Marking of the Glides ......................................307 Diacritic Marks.....................................................................310 Hebrew-Influenced Orthography..........................................311 Summary...............................................................................327 Bibliography.....................................................................................329