TRANSLATING Kināyah ᶜan mawṣūƒ (METONYMY OF A MODIFIED OBJECT) IN SOME PROPHETIC HADITHS

Abstract

The Prophetic Hadith (i.e. sayings of the Prophet) is full of rhetoric devices present throughout His sayings. One of the basic rhetorical devices is metonymy. Metonymy is a pervasive linguistic phenomenon in all cultures, in both spoken and written discourse. This paper investigates metonymy in Arabic language and its translation in general and assessing the translation of Kināyah ᶜan mawṣūƒ (metonymy of a modified object) in Khan’s translation (1997) of Ṣaḥiḥ Al-Bukhārῑ in particular. The distinctive style and the special nature of the Prophetic sayings make the translation of metonymy in the Prophetic Hadith stands as a challenging task for translators. Thus, the present study aims to arrive at the impact of translating metonymy in producing an effective language and the extent to which it is relayed accurately in the target language. The selected metonymies are extracted, analyzed and followed by the assessment of their translations. One of the purposes of the present research is to identify the extent to which metonymies in the Prophetic Hadith deepen their reading comprehension and investigate the strategies of translating metonymies of modified objects in the Prophetic Hadith. In order to observe the highly rhetorical style of Prophetic sayings and not to sacrifice part of their meaning, the source-oriented approach is recommended here in order to render the taste of the original culture and profound its values to the target reader.