Critique and analysis of cultural elements in Ibn Arabshah’s translation of Marzbannameh based on Ivory

Abstract

Translation of literary texts as the most dynamic current in literature more than other types contains cultural and indigenous elements, and this has a special Place in translation research from the perspective of theorizing and translation strategies. The story of Marzbannameh is one of the literary texts in Persian literature and as a magnificent work, it has many cultural components that face many challenges in translating the translator. This book was translated into Arabic in 852 A.H by Ibn Arabshah with a destina tion-oriented approach. Since transferring all the semantic layers of a word from one language to another is a difficult task and no exact equivalent can be found for each of the cultural elements in the target language, the exact explanation of each word according to the semantic realm and cultural content requires an independent solution. Therefore, Ivory’s solution is the basis of this research. Ivory is one of the theorists who has provided a suitable model for translating cultural elements, which includes borrowing, definition, literal translation, replacement, word formation, deletion, and addition. Due to the volume of the book, the seventh, eighth and ninth chapters were examined as a body of research. The result of the research shows that the translator has used a more integrated method in translating cultural elements and by applying this approach has provided the ground for the Arabic reader in the form of understanding the unfamiliar textual world and this has provided his success in this regard.

Keywords

• cultural elements
• fakheh al-khalifa
• ivory pattern
• marzbannameh
• translation