Quarterly Journal of Nahj al-Balagha Research

Quarterly Journal of Nahj al-Balagha Research

The Challenge of Proper Names in English and Persian Translations of Nahj al-Balagha

Document Type : Research Article

Authors
Mahmoud Afrouz 1
Narjes Asgari Vartooni 2
1 Associate Professor of Translation Studies, Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Foreign Languages, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran
2 Master's student, Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Foreign Languages, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran
10.22084/nahj.2026.30043.3120
Abstract
One of the problems in translating literary-religious texts is the issue of choosing equivalents for proper names (PNs). The aim of the present study was to investigate the procedures of translating PNs in Imam Ali’s Nahj al-Balaghah and its three Persian translations (by Makarem Shirazi, Ayati, Jafari) and three English translations (by Husain, Jafari, and Ahlul Bayt Digital Islamic Library Project). To analyze the data, the most recent model (i.e., Nyanjeri-Wangri, 2019) was used as the framework for examining the PNs. The model included six procedures of “preservation, loan translations, non-translation plus additional explanation, adaptation, use of common nouns”. The researcher attempted to find answers to the following questions: Does Nyangeri and Wangari’s (2019) taxonomy cover all procedures used by translator? What procedures are employed by translators? Are translators consistent in using specific procedures for rendering all PNs? Is there any difference between English and Persian translators’ tendencies towards using particular procedures? How is the distribution of procedures? What are the most and the least frequent procedures? Based on the findings, both groups of Persian translators and English translators have most frequently employed the two procedures of “preservation” and “non-translation plus additional explanation”. Together, these two procedures covered more than a third of all procedures. On the other hand, it was found that “use of common nouns” was the least repeatedly used procedure.
Keywords
Nahj al-Balagha
translation procedures
proper names
literary-religious texts
Subjects
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