Literary Arts (Sep 2024)
The Origin of Metonymical Combination (Derafshi Shodan/Kardan) Based on Ferdowsi's Shahnameh
Abstract
The ironic combination of "Derafshi shodan/kardan" in the meaning of "to be infamous" was used for the first time in Ferdowsi's Shahnameh, and it has no history in other poetry and prose works before that. The questions that arise when encountering this combination are: what connection exists between the words of the combination (true meaning) and its ironic meaning? In the creation of this ironic combination, what interpretation and idea did Ferdowsi have of the Derafsh, and how did he perceive its presence on the battlefields, which caused him to bring out the ironic concept of "infamy" from it? The findings of this study indicate that the use of "spear" in a special way on the battlefield, to perform martial arts, was the origin of the creation of this ironic combination. The words of this combination convey correctly not only the true meaning of irony, which means getting into the shape and form of the flag but also its ironic meaning, which means being infamous. To create this ironic combination, Ferdowsi recreated the real world of the epic in his mind and language, expressed the image he perceived from the epic, and narrated it with the most suitable words for the audience in a comprehensible way. Keywords: Derafshi Shodan/Kardan, Spear, Ferdowsi, Shahnameh. IntroductionConventional language patterns are not able to reflect the dimension of linguistic literary and intellectual creativity of poetry. Although the poet, like others, perceives the world with the same language as their fellow speakers, he can employ his era's language through his constructed rules and create the words, combinations, and phrases that he means. It means that he can “abolish the conventional and everyday language and invent a new, private and personal, and in the final analysis, mysterious speech” (Eliade, 2003, p. 35).Ferdowsi's skill in utilizing the literary features of the epic genre and his mastery of the content of Shahnameh is evident in the way he states stories. Living with epic concepts sometimes prompts him to combine the Persian vocabulary following the laws of his mental-linguistic world and the epic text structure, and present a novel combination, which is the most suitable format for conveying the intended meaning and feeling.The present study aims to answer the questions of why and how the connection between the real and the ironic meaning of the combination "Derafshi shodan/kardan" was formed in Ferdowsi's mind. The purpose of writing the study is also to demonstrate an aspect of Ferdowsi's literary creativity by explaining the origin of one of his innovative ironic combinations and to present how the mastery of the relationships governing the battlefield and the precise knowledge of martial arts became the foundation of the creation of this ironic combination, which has expanded the lexical-literary scope of the Persian language, given it a new capacity, and provided a guide for the poets after him. Materials and MethodsThe present research first studied reliable library resources and categorized their contents. Describing, comparing, and analyzing the related data led to the advancement of the study and achieving the results. Research FindingsIn ancient Iran, the ability to use a spear on the battlefield was particularly important. Darius I of Achaemenid in paragraph 9 of the Bistun inscription was proud of his spear-throwing, he was happy that he could throw the spear both on horseback and on foot (Sharp, 2005, p. 91). There are numerous verses in Ferdowsi's Shahnameh in which the purpose of the spear-throwing is to throw the rider off the saddle, and it narrates the simultaneous action of throwing a spear at the rider and him falling to the ground. In the second category of verses, the rider is not overthrown just by throwing the spear; rather, they are first lifted off from the saddle with a spear and then hit on the ground, which undoubtedly required a lot of physical strength and the hero's skill was revealed by performing this movement.The image presented in the third category of the Shahnameh's verses is not a common movement and when it appears, it arouses the attention and surprise of the witnesses, including the king and the army. The image presented of the enemy in such verses was precisely like a flag, where instead of fabric, leather, etc. the enemy's corpse was hanged on the pole. In other words, powerful heroes sometimes planted the spear on the opponent's armor on the battlefield, lifted them from the saddle, and displayed their bodies like a flag in front of everyone. It is evident that when the body of a renowned hero was raised on the battlefield like this, the whole army would gaze at him from all directions. In such a situation, he would become a flag in the real world and thereby become egregious, scandalous, and infamous. Discussion of Results and ConclusionsConsidering the results of the study, Ferdowsi is a creative poet with a dynamic language that utilizes existing linguistic structures and creates innovative forms to express the relationships governing the battlefield. Deep thinking in the epic literary genre, considering the space and relationships governing the epic text, precise understanding actions of heroes, along Ferdowsi's linguistic creativity, have created an ironic combination that signifies the manifestation of the objective world of the epic in Ferdowsi's mental and linguistic world. He has expressed his mental image in the form of words and utilizing irony, which is more eloquent than explicit statements (Homayi, 1991, p. 206), in a way that the audience, when encountering this compound, discovers both the literal meaning, i.e., "becoming a flag", and the metaphorical meaning, i.e., "being disgraced, infamous, and scandalous", and observes a clear and understandable image in front of their eyes.
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