URUVAKA AṆI: ARAPU MAṞṞUM TAMIḺ MOḺIKAḶUKKIṬAIYILĀṈA ŌR OPPĪṬṬU ĀYVU [THE ART OF METAPHOR: A CONTRASTIVE STUDY BETWEEN ARABIC AND TAMIL

Abstract

Metaphor is regarded as one of the most important tools in the literature of any language because it stimulates the imagination for the analysis of literary works. In Arabic rhetoric, this literary device is known as ʾIstiʿārah, and in Tamil grammar, it is defined as Uruwaha Ani. This study compares the background, definition, and classification of this concept in both languages. This study discovered that the two discourses have different backgrounds, in that ʾIstiʿārah in Arabic is based on the concept of Majāz (Allegory) and Uruwaha Ani in Tamil is seen as the developmental stage of simile. According to the definition of ʾIstiʿārah, it requires only the linked to (the borrowed to - المستعار له) or the linked (the borrowed-from - المستعار منه) to be mentioned in the given examples. Thus, in Tamil Uruwaha Ani, when only the linked to (Uwameyam) or the linked (Uwamanam) is mentioned, it coincides with the ʾIstiʿārah discourse. The study also discovered that Uruwaha Ani differs from ʾIstiʿārah, in the way it handles phrases that contain both linked to and the linked, while the Arabic rhetoric considers it as a type of smile called ‘effective simile’ (التشبيه البليغ). Although both ideologies have different classifications, some classifications of each can be found in the illustrative examples of the other language.