Hunayn, al-Jahiz and theGraeco-Arab translationmovement
Mikyle Ossman
The Graeco-Arab translation movement was an endeavour by the Abbasid caliphs to translate significant Greek texts into Arabic. It began informally during the 8th Umayyad caliph (approx. 717AD), with translation being an individual effort (Rabadah, 2015). The movement was formalized and state-funded by the 2nd Abbasid caliph (approx. 754 AD), propelled by phenomenal riches, and Arabic as the lingua franca of the empire. Amira Benison says that translators were paid an astonishing 500 gold dinars (current day monetary value of £20,000) for a month’s work (Bragg, 2008). The capital of the Abbasid Empire, Baghdad, was a frenzy of trading activity on the Silk Route and a melting pot of cultures and peoples – Arabs, Persians, Turks, Byzantines, and Greeks. Intellectuals came from all over the empire (Aissi, 1987). Baghdad was in a prime position to facilitate the birth of the translation movement. Throughout the movement different translation techniques emerged. At the inception of the translation movement, there were ‘literal translators’ (word -for-word translators) such as Yahya ibn al-Batriq. Thereafter, there were eminent translators, such as Hunayn ibn Ishaq who undertook ‘free translation’ with a focus on the meaning in the source language (SL), and how best to convey it into the target language (TL). Hunayn ibn Ishaq was not only a translator but also a scholar, physician and scientist (Khalidi & Dajana, 2015). He mastered four languages, becoming the most productive translator of Greek medical treatises of his day (Cooper, 2019). Hunayn’s contemporary, Abu Uthman bin Bhar bin Mahbub al -Kinani al-Laithi, better known as al- Jahiz (bug eyes – a name he earned due to his protruding eyes and an insatiable thirst for knowledge), writes about the process of translation in his book Kitab al-Hayawan (Book of Life) (Jackson, 1984). Whilst al-Jahiz was not a translator himself, he understood the importance of the translator in the cross- cultural exchange of ideas that is translation; while the target audience receives something via the transmitter, it may not be represented with complete fidelity (Jackson, 1984). He explains the requirements for the translator, the challenges with the act of translation, the difficulty of mastering two languages, and the nuances of languages (Lazreg, 2015). Al- Jahiz’s principles have two key requirements of translators to convey the message from the source text as accurately as possible. The translator must be at the same intellectual level as the author he translates and be fluent in both the SL and TL (Aissi, 1987). With this, he recognized the struggle of translation owing to the uniqueness of each language and to howmeaning is intertwined with culture. For example, the issue of formal vs. informal register; the difference between a Bedouin who speaks a more formal register of Arabic, and a low-class joke or witticism. Al-Jahiz writes that it is essential that either register be appropriately replicated in the TL (Lazreg, 2015). A vehement critic of the translations of philosophy, al-Jahiz held Aristotle and other Greek philosophers in much higher esteem than the Arab philosophers, although after al-Jahiz passed away, very well-respected philosophers like Avicenna and al-Farabi were born out of the translation movement. In Kitab al-Hayawan , al- Jahiz said, ‘How can [Arab philosophers] Ibn al - Muqaffa‘, Ibn al - Batreeq and others be like Aristotle?’ (Isa & Qadiri, 2017, p. 26). He justifies this by saying: the translator cannot say exactly what the wise man wanted to say and convey specific connotations;
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