Research studies

Corpus-Based Analysis of the Meaning and Translation of The Arabic Word “Ghurfah” in Islamic Discourse

 

Prepared by the researcheIbrahim Jibreel1, Abdulmalik Al-Shawki2, Arwa Almuslimi3, Ebtesam Mukarram4, Bushraa Al-shawfi5, Mona Nasher6 & Wafa’a Al-absi7

  • 1University of Science & Technology, Hodeidah, Yemen
  • 2Al-Mahweet University, Al Mahwit, Yemen
  • 3-7University of Science & Technology, Hodeidah, Yemen

Democratic Arabic Center

Arabic journal for Translation studies : Ninth Issue – October 2024

A Periodical International Journal published by the “Democratic Arab Center” Germany – Berlin

Nationales ISSN-Zentrum für Deutschland
ISSN 2750-6142
Arabic journal for translation studies

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Abstract

This research aims to identify the meaning of the polysemous and homonymy word Ghurfah (غرفة) in Arabic language. In addition, it investigates the word Ghurfah  (غرفة)in Arabi Corpus.  Besides, it sheds light on its translation in the Holy Quran. The descriptive methodology is followed utilizing a content-based analysis. It is found that the word Ghurfah (غرفة) has repeated in the Holy Quran 5 times with two different meanings. viz taking quality of water and place in paradise. In Arabi Corpus, it is found that the most common meaning of the word Ghurfah (غرفة) is place, followed by virtual or metaphorical meaning, a place in paradise and lastly to take a quality of water respectively. Moreover, the most common meaning used for the word Ghurfah (غرفة) is the room of four walls, a room according to long man dictionary (apart inside of a building that has its own wall, floor, and ceiling). The researchers clarified its interpretations according to the two interpreters Abdallah Youssef and Shaker. They reflected the two meanings with slight differences in their translations.  

1.    Introduction

Translation plays a crucial and significant role in the dissemination of knowledge and culture among different people who speak various languages. Its significant come from its vital role as a tool for global dialogue and for cross cultural understanding. So, it is considered as one of the important fields in today’s life in bridging the gaps between cultures. In spite to that, translators encountered some challenges and difficulties in translating some lexical expressions. One of these challenges is transferring meaning of polysomic expressions from one language into another.

Polysemy is usually characterized as the phenomenon whereby a single word form is associated with two or more related meanings. These multiple meanings of the word cause problems to the interpreter when s\he transfers the meaning from one language to another. Therefore, linguists dealt with this phenomenon in various ways.

To illustrate, the translator may fail to convey the message or misinterpret it due to the lack of knowledge of language, inadequate dictionary or glossary. In such case, the function is based on corpus-linguistics to analysis the polysemous and homonymy word and to identify the appropriate meaning. The matter becomes more complex when it is related to the meaning of the word in the Holy Quran.  In this regard, the researchers intend to survey the meaning of the word (غرفة) in the Islamic discourse of the ArabiCorpus available at: https://arabicorpus.byu.edu/   In addition, it aims to trace back the translation of that word in the Holy Quran in the translations of Abdallah Youssef and Shaker. Corpus linguistics is a research approach that has developed over the past decade to support empirical investigation of language variation and use.

     However, some words which are polysemous and homonyms in nature create some problems and difficulties for translators when they propose to render them to the TL, or we can say that translators especially those of Islamic text confront a difficulty in translating polysemous and homonyms words. For example, The Holy Quran contains a lot of polysomic expression in terms that one word could carry more than one related meaning for examples the words (غرفة), (صلاه), (كتاب), (أمة), فتنة)), …. etc

  • Significance of the Study

 Polysemy is characterized as the phenomenon whereby a single word form is associated with two or more related senses, whereas homonyms are words having the same sound but different meanings. This research obtains its significance from its examination of the multi-meaning vocabulary in semantics and its dealing with the usage of such lexis in the corpus. This will be beneficial for translators, students of translation and program designers.

2.1 Statement of the Problem

Translators, especially novice, and Students of translation faced difficulties in translating polysemous and homonyms words. Because they are a matter of controversial between languages. We are looking for a solution that can help translators to get the true meaning of polysemous and homonyms words.

3.1 Aims of the Study

This study aims to:

  1. Identify the meaning of polysemous and homonyms word Ghurfah ((غرفة.
  2. Investigate the use of the word Ghurfah ((غرفة in ArabiCorpus in corpus Linguistics.
  3. Specify the translation of the word Ghurfah ((غرفة in the Holy Quran.

2.     Literature Review

1.2. Definition

Corpus linguistics is the study of language and its use in discourse, and it has been applied to many different contexts, including Islamic discourse. This type of analysis has enabled researchers to gain insights into Islamic discourse and how it is used in everyday conversations. It is based on the concept of a “corpus”, which is a large collection of texts from a specific language or language family. Researchers use these collections of texts to identify patterns in language, such as common words and phrases, which provide insights into how specific language is used in discourse.

In the context of Islamic discourse, corpus linguistics has been used to identify the language used by Muslims in everyday conversations, such as in prayer and sermons. Researchers have also used corpus linguistics to analyze the language used in Islamic literature, such as the Qur’an and Hadith. This has enabled researchers to gain insights into the language used to discuss Islamic beliefs and practices, as well as how these beliefs are expressed in different languages.

Corpus linguistics has also been used to investigate the language used in debates and discourse around controversial topics related to Islam, such as gender roles and the rights of minority groups. This has enabled researchers to gain valuable insights into how language is used to express opinions and shape public discourse.

In conclusion, corpus linguistics is a valuable tool for investigating Islamic discourse. By analyzing the language used in everyday conversations, Islamic literature, and debates, researchers can gain valuable insights into how language is used to express Islamic beliefs and opinions.

2.2 The meaning of the Word (غرفة) in the Arabi-Corpus

The word (غرفة) “room” is a common term that has a wide range of meanings and uses in the Arabic language. In the ArabiCorpus, the word “room” is used to refer to an enclosed space, such as a bedroom, living room, or office. It can also refer to a physical or mental space, such as a state of mind or a place of solace.

The word “room” also has a wide range of figurative meanings in the Arabic language. It can be used to refer to a period of time, such as a moment, hour, or day. It can also be used to refer to a space of opportunity, such as a chance or opportunity to succeed. The word can also be used to refer to a space of potential, such as a new idea or opportunity.

The word “room” can also be used to refer to a space of comfort, such as a place of refuge or a place to relax and unwind. This meaning of the word is often used in a religious context to refer to a place of spiritual solace.

To summarize, the word (غرفة) has many uses and meanings in the Arabic language. It can refer to a physical or mental space, a period of time, a space of opportunity, and a space of comfort. Understanding the various meanings of the word is essential for accurate interpretation and translation of Arabic discourse.

3.2 What is corpus?

A corpus is a very large collection of text (often many billion words) produced by real users of the language and used to analyze how words, phrases and language in general are used. It is used by linguists, lexicographers, social scientists, humanities, experts in natural language processing and in many other fields. A corpus is also be used for generating various language databases used in software development such as predictive keyboards, spell check, grammar correction, text/speech understanding systems, text-to-speech modules, machine translation systems and many others.

  • Types of text corpora

It is not possible to easily classify a corpus to certain categories. Instead, corpora can have features or properties which can be used to group them.

Based on the number of languages utilized, corpus can be monolingual, Parallel corpus or multilingual corpus

  • Monolingual corpus

A monolingual corpus is the most frequent type of corpus. It contains texts in one language only. The corpus is usually tagged for parts of speech and is used by a wide range of users for various tasks from highly practical ones, e.g., checking the correct usage of a word or looking up the most natural word combinations, to scientific use, e.g., identifying frequent patterns or new trends in language. Sketch Engine contains hundreds of monolingual corpora in dozens of languages.

  • Parallel corpus, multilingual corpus

A parallel corpus consists of two or more monolingual corpora. The corpora are the translations of each other.  For example, a novel and its translation or a translation memory of a CAT tool could be used to build a parallel corpus. Both languages need to be aligned, i.e., corresponding segments, usually sentences or paragraphs, need to be matched. The user can then search for all examples of a word or phrase in one language and the results will be displayed together with the corresponding sentences in the other language. The user can then observe how the search word or phrase is translated.

Studying the mistakes and problems learners have when learning a foreign language, Sketch Engine allows for learner corpora to be annotated for the type of error and provides a special interface to search either for the error itself, for the error correction, for the error type or for a combination of the three options. See also setting up a learner corpus, (Kilgariff, et al (2015).

Error-annotated corpus

These corpora contain texts produced by learners of a language or by translators. The errors are annotated and can be used to study the types of errors different groups of learners or translators make.

Specialized corpus

A specialized corpus contains texts limited to one or more subject areas, domains, topics etc. Such corpus is used to study how the specialized language is used. The user can create specialized sub corpora from the general corpora in Sketch Engine.

Multimedia corpus

A multimedia corpus contains texts which are enhanced with audio or visual materials or other type of multimedia content. For example, the spoken part of British National Corpus in Sketch Engine has links to the corresponding recordings which can be played from the Sketch Engine interface.

Other corpora can have videos where the corpus text is spoken or images which show the original manuscript or printed copy of the text.

4.2 Polysemous and homonyms words

The word “Polysemy” is a compound noun for basic feature. This name comes from Greek poly ‘many’ and semi ‘to do with meaning as in semantics. Polysemy is also called radiation or multiplication. This happens when a word acquires a wider range of meanings’ (Quiroga-Clare, 2003). In fact, the term polysemy was first introduced by the French semanticist Michel Bréal in his Essay de Sémantique in 1897 (Kovács, 2011). It can be defined as one form (written or spoken) having multiple meanings that are all related by extension (Yule, 2010:120). The different meanings of a polysemous words are often derived from its ‘primary meaning’. The other meanings are ‘the extended meanings’, some of which can be peripheral due to their low frequency of use (Liu, 2013).

Polysemy is characterized as the phenomenon whereby a single word form is associated with two or more related senses. It is distinguished from monosomy, where one word form is associated with a single meaning, whereas homonymy is a single word form is associated with two or more unrelated meanings. Or homonyms are words having the same sound, but different meanings. Although the distinctions between polysemy, monosomy, and homonymy may seem clear at an intuitive level, they have proven difficult to draw in practice.

Polysemous and homonymy phenomenon are one of the fundamental properties of the lexical system of a language. The most common words of a language are polysemous; that is, they have a number of related senses1 (Zipf, 1945).

The following examples taken from the Holy Qur’an can illustrate the phenomena of polysemous and homonymy in Arabic:

سورة البقرة، الآية 249:

“فلما فصل طالوت بالجنود قال إن الله مبتلييكم بنهر فمن شرب منه فليس مني ومن لم يطعمه فإنه مني إلا من اغترف غرفة بيده فشربوا منه إلا قليلا منهم فلما جاوزه هو والذين آمنوا معه قالوا لا طاقة لنا اليوم بجالوت وجنوده قال الذين يظنون أنهم ملاقو الله كم من فئة قليلة غلبت فئة كثيرة بإذن الله والله مع الصابرين.”

Translated by shaker

“So, when Talut departed with the forces, he said: Surely Allah will try you with a river; whoever then drinks from it, he is not of me, and whoever does not taste of it, he is surely of me, except he who takes with his hand as much of it as fills the hand; but with the exception of a few of them they drank from it. So, when he had crossed it, he and those who believed with him, they said: We have today no power against Jalut and his forces. Those who were sure that they would meet their Lord said: How often has a small party vanquished a numerous host by Allah’s permission, and Allah is with the patient.”

Translated by Abdallah Youssef

“When Talut set forth with the armies, he said:”(Allah) will test you at the stream: if any drinks of its water, He goes not with my army: Only those who taste not of it go with me: A mere sip out of the hand is excused.” but they all drank of it, except a few. When they crossed the river, – He and the faithful ones with him, they said: “This day we cannot cope with Goliath and his forces.” but those who were convinced that they must meet Allah, said: “How oft, by Allah’s will, Hath a small force vanquished a big one? Allah is with those who steadfastly persevere.”

سورة الفرقان، الآية 75:

أولئك يجزون الغرفة بما صبروا ويلقون فيها تحية وسلاما “”

Translated by shaker:

“These shall be rewarded with high places because they were patient, and shall be met therein with greetings and salutations”.

Translated by Abdallah Youssef

“Those are the ones who will be rewarded with the highest place in heaven, because of their patient constancy: therein shall they be met with salutations and peace”

سورة العنكبوت، الآية 58:

” والذين آمنوا وعملوا الصالحات لنبوئنهم من الجنة غرفاً تجري من تحتها الأنهار خالدين فيها نعم أجر العالمين “

Translated by Shaker:

“And (as far) those who believe and do good, we will certainly give them abode in the high places in gardens beneath which rivers flow, abiding therein; how good the reward of the workers “.

Translated by Abdallah Youssef:

“But those who believe and work deeds of righteousness – to them shall We give a Home in Heaven, -lofty mansions beneath which flow rivers, to dwell therein for aye; – an excellent reward for those who do (good)!”

سورة الزمر، الآية 20:

“لكن الذين اتقوا ربهم لهم غرف من فوقها غرف مبنية تجري من تحتها الأنهار وعد الله لا يخلف الله الميعاد”

Translated by shaker:

But (as for) those who are careful of (their duty to) their Lord, they shall have high places, above them higher places, built (for them), beneath which flow rivers; (this is) the promise of Allah: Allah will not fail in (His) promise.

Translated by Abdallah Youssef

“It is not your wealth nor your sons, that will bring you nearer to Us in degree: but only those who believe and work righteousness – these are the ones for whom there is a multiplied Reward for their deeds, while secure they (reside) in the dwellings on high! “

سورة سبأ، الآية 37:

“وما أموالكم ولا أولادكم بالتي تقربكم عندنا زلفى إلا من آمن وعمل صالحا فأولئك لهم جزاء الضعف بما عملوا وهم في الغرفات آمنون”

Translated by shaker:

“And not your wealth nor your children, are the things which bring you near Us in station, but whoever believes and does good, these it is for whom is a double reward for what they do, and they shall be secure in the highest places”.

Translated by Abdallah Youssef

But it is for those who fear their Lord. That lofty mansion, one above another, have been built: beneath them flow rivers (of delight): (such is) the Promise of Allah. never doth Allah fail in (His) promise.

5.2 The meaning of word Ghurfah غرفة  in Arabic Dictionaries

Table 1: Ghurfah  غرفة in Arabic Dictionaries

e-dictionaries

                                              

word

Al Waseem

الوسيط

Al Raid

الرائد

Al Ghani

الغني

 

Ghurfah (غرفة)

1)         to take quality of water.

2)         place in paradise

3)         free room as commercial chamber.

4)         agriculture room.

1)          high place.

2)         Bedroom.

3)         place room.

4)         authority place as economic room.

5)         agriculture room.

6)         court room.

7)         to take quality of water.

 

1.         room at home

2.         the lesson room as hall.

3.         commercial chamber

4.         farming room, industry room

5.         surgery room

  It is noticed that In Arabic dictionary, the word Ghurfah has the following meanings:

  • According to AL Waseet (الوسيط) dictionary in Arabic Arabic dictionary of meanings, it is found as to take quality of water, place in paradise, free room as commercial chamber and agriculture room.
  • According to Alraid ((الرائد dictionary in Arabic Arabic dictionary of meanings, it is found as high place, bedroom, place room, then authority place as economic room, agriculture room. court room and lastly as water, to take quality of water.
  • According to Alghany ((الغني dictionary in Arabic Arabic dictionary of meanings, it is found as a room at home consists of four rooms as bedroom, dining room, reception room and children room, the lesson room as hall, then commercial chamber with its secondary meanings as farming room, industry room and lastly surgery room.

6.2 Previous Studies

Beghoul and Hamlaoui (2017) studied ambiguity of polysemous English words in Translation.‏ It is carried out to shed light on one of the lexical problems affecting the performance of translation for I and II students of English, at the Department of English, University of Misurata, while attempting to translate from English into Arabic. The problem was the ambiguous nature of English words, particularly polysomic words. In order to investigate this problem, the researchers hypothesized that if Translation I and II students make use of the linguistic context, they will succeed in translating polysemous words. To check this hypothesis and to achieve the aims of this research, a test and a questionnaire were administered to a sample of translation I and II students. One of the points of focus of this research is how context helps and may be reinforced in translating polysemous words.

Alnamer, S. (2017). measures the extent to which Arabic-speaking EFL learners are aware of polysemy in English. He investigates whether the English proficiency level of Arabic-speaking EFL learners plays a role in their ability to distinguish between the various meanings of English polysemous words, and whether they face problems when they encounter these words in unusual contexts (i.e., the contexts that employ the extended meanings of the target Polysemous words). To these ends, a translation test in which the participants were asked to give full Arabic translation for fifteen English sentences. The words open, run, and make were the target polysemous words in this Study. The Results show that Arabic-speaking EFL learners have little awareness of polysemy in English, and their English proficiency level does play a role in their ability to distinguish between the different meanings of English Polysemous words. It was also found that Arabic-speaking EFL learners have no problems guessing the primary meaning of the English polysemous words. However, they face difficulty guessing the extended meanings of polysemous words in unusual contexts. Moreover, some Arabic-speaking EFL learners can guess the extended meanings of the polysemous words they encounter in familiar contexts, or when they understand some cues provided to disambiguate these words.

Mater (2020).  using context in translating polysemy. He investigated the obstacles that face students in translating English polysomic words into Arabic. He used the descriptive quantitative method depending on. a translation test consisted of 10 sentences included 5 polysomic words, each one used in two different contexts to a sample of 23 participants who were randomly selected from the third level of the Department of English, Faculty of Education- Saber, University of Aden. The findings revealed that some of the participants succeeded in using the context in translating these words while the others failed in finding the appropriate meanings and faced difficulties in translating these words. The difficulties may lie in the fact that student lack basic knowledge and understanding of the multiplicity of words. The findings also revealed that the more reading and understanding the context, the more accurate translations are produced by the student. The findings emphasized to a great extent the importance of studying polysemous words, having into consideration the other meanings of the polysomic as it is not enough to use the common meanings of such words.

Al-Jarf (2022) studied the challenges that undergraduate student translators’ face in translating polysemy from English to Arabic and Arabic to English.‏ A sample of Arabic and English polysemy translation errors was collected from homework-assignments and exams to explore the difficulties that student-translators have in translating English and Arabic polysemy. Data analysis Showed that the students made more errors in translating Arabic polysemous to English than English polysemous to Arabic. They made more errors in translating polysemous compounds than single-word polysemous and the equivalent compounds had collocation errors. The students utilized different faulty strategies in translating polysemous, especially in source texts which have One-to-many equivalents (system, affairs). They tend to overgeneralize the equivalent they know to all contexts. They resorted to literal translation, i.e., Word for word translation rather than using fixed formulaic equivalents that are dissimilar in structure to the source polysemy. They also overgeneralized the same equivalent to all contexts, although each shade of meaning has a different equivalent. Faulty translation of polysomic words may be due to inadequate L1 competence such as the availability of different regional Arabic designations for ‘parliament’ and the different designations used in American and British English for  lack of proficiency in EFL, i.e. limited vocabulary knowledge; unfamiliarity with specialized meanings and commonly used equivalents; lack of world knowledge.
Abdulsafi (2022) aimed to shed light on one of the Arabic-speaking EFL learners’ Lexical problems, concerning translating words used in context from English into Arabic. It focused on translating polysemous words when they are used both in their direct core and indirect secondary meanings. In order to investigate this problem, a translation test was administered to a sample comprised 28 male and female students studying English at the Faculty of Education-Yafea, University of Aden, Yemen. The test consisted of 10 English Sentences used to collect quantitative data from the participants. Each five sentences tested one polysemous word. The meanings of the polysemous words in the first sentence in each five sentences is direct, core meaning; whereas their meanings in the other 4 Sentences are indirect secondary meanings. It was found that Arabic-speaking EFL learners were unable to a great extent to translate the words well, especially when those words were used in their indirect secondary meanings.

  1. Methodology

The methodology used in this research is the descriptive analytical method. The translation of polysemous and homonymy words is the main focus represented by a sample of the translation of the word Ghurfah ” غرفة” in the Holy Quran as an Islamic discourse and the meaning of the word in the Islamic discourse of the Arabic Corpus. In both cases, the study is a content-based analysis that takes into account the meaning of the polysemous and homonymy word Ghurfah “غرفة” and its translation in the Islamic discourse.

1.3  Sample

The researchers have selected the word Ghurfah (غرفة) in the holy Quran and especially in ArabiCorpus and its meaning in the Holy Quran.

2.3 Analysis

 On 19th of Oct. 2022 at 9:14 AM, the word Ghurfah (غرفة) in the ArabiCorpus has been retrieved and counted.  It has been repeated about 2349. The researchers tried to classify its occurrences in the light of its meaning in Arabic lexical dictionaries.  These occurrences have been reflected in frequencies and percentages.

3.3 Limitations of the study

The study is limited to Arabic to English language; the ArabiCorpus in Islamic terms and the meaning of the word Ghurfah ” غرفة ” in Holy Quran translated by Abdallah Youssef and Shaker.

  1. Results and their discussion

This section discusses the results of identifying and categorizing the meaning of the word Ghurfah in the Arabic Corpus. In addition, it sheds light on its translations in the Holy Quran.

1.4 The word Ghurfah ((غرفة in Islamic discourse

1. 1.4 The Overall Result

Table 2: General Meaning of the word Ghurfah ((غرفة in Islamic discourse

Percentage Frequency General Meaning
89.8% 2110 مكان

(Place)

8.2% 193 افتراضية أو مجازية

(Virtual or Metaphorical)

1.20% 28 مكان في الجنة

(Place In Paradise)

.8% 18 ماء

(Water)

100% 2349 Total

As shown in Table (2), the meaning of the word ((غرفة in Islamic discourse has been frequently repeated 2349. It comes with four different meanings viz. Place, Virtual or metaphorical, Water and a Place in Paradise. The most frequently meaning is the place with a percentage of 89.8% (N=2110), followed by virtual or metaphorical meaning with 8.2%(N=193), a place in paradise 1.20% (N=28) and water .8% (N=18) respectively.

A.       Ghurfah ((غرفة as a Place

Table 3: Ghurfah ((غرفة as a Place

General Meaning Sub-meaning Translation Frequency Percentage%
 

 

 

 

 

مكان
Place

غرفة منزل At Home A Room 1784 84.55
غرفة في مستشفى At hospital   A Room 218 10.32
غرفة في مدرسة At School   A Room 60 2.84
غرفة مكتب Office Room 10 0.47
غرفة في سجن A Room at Prison 9 0.43
غرفة اجتماعات Meeting Room 4 0.19
غرفة الحجز Detention Room 8 0.38
غرفة محكمة A Court Room 1 0.05
غرفة تحقيق An Investigation Room 7 0.33
غرفة إذاعة A Broadcast Room 1 0.05
غرفة في مسجد A Room at Mosque 2 0.09
غرفة التوقيف Stopping Room 1 0.05
غرفة التسجيل A Record Room 1 0.05
غرفة مغسلة الأموات A Room of Laundry Dead 1 0.05
غرفة الحاسوب A Computer Room 1 0.05
غرفة رؤية الهلال A room for watching the crescent 1 0.05
عنوان كتاب A Book Title 1 0.05
Total 2110 100%

Table (3) illustrates that 17 meanings were figured out for the word Ghurfah (غرفة) in the Islamic discourse in Arabic Corpus. The most three ranked meanings are: a room at home with a percentage of 84.55% (N=1784), followed by a room at hospital with 10.32% (N=218), then a room at school with 2.84% (N=60) respectively. The least frequent meaning of the word Ghurfah (غرفة)in Islamic discourse are a court room, a broadcast room, stopping room, a record room, a room of laundry dead, a computer room, a book title and room for watching the crescent with 0.05% (N=1) for all.

B.       Ghurfah ((غرفة as a Virtual or Metaphorical Place

Table 4: Ghurfah ((غرفة as a Virtual or Metaphorical Place

General Meaning Sub-meaning Translation Frequency Percentage%
افتراضية أو مجازية

Virtual or Metaphorical

غرفة افتراضية Virtual Room 158 81,8
غرفة تجارية Commercial Chamber 20 10,4
قبر Grave 5 2,5
غرفة الالقاء Declamation Room 2 1,1
غرفة العمليات العسكرية Military Operation Room 4 2,1
غرفة الاخبار News Room 1 0,5
غرفة الطقس والمناخ Weather and Climate Room 1 0,5
غرفة السحر Magic Room 1 0,5
غرفة تبادل معلومات Intelligence Room 1 0,5
Total 193 100%

Table (4) illustrates that 9 meanings were figured out for the word Ghurfah (غرفة) in the Islamic discourse in Arabic Corpus. The most two ranked meanings are: a virtual room with a percentage of 81.8% (N=158), followed by a commercial chamber with 10.4% (N=20) respectively. The least frequent meaning of the word Ghurfah(غرفة) in Islamic discourse are a news room, weather and climate room, magic room and room for intelligence with 0.52% (N=1) for all.

C.       Ghurfah ((غرفة as a place in paradise 

Table 5: Ghurfah ((غرفة as a place in paradise

General Meaning Sub-meaning Translation Frequency Percentage%
مكان في الجنة

In Paradise A Place

مكان في الجنة A Place in Paradise 28 100
Total 28 100%

Table (5) illustrates that 1 meaning was figured out for the word Ghurfah (غرفة) in the Islamic discourse in Arabic Corpus. The most meaning is a place in paradise with percentage of 100% (N=28) respectively.

D.      Ghurfah ((غرفة as a Water 

Table 6: Ghurfah ((غرفة as a Water

General Meaning Sub-meaning Translation Frequency Percentage%
ماء

Water

غَرفة ماء To take a quality of water 18 100
Total 18 100%

Table (6) illustrates that 1 meaning was figured out for the word Ghurfah (غرفة) in the Islamic discourse in Arabic Corpus. The most meaning is to take quality of water with percentage of 00% (N=18) respectively.

2.4    Ghurfah ” غرفة ” in the Holy Quran[1]

Table 7: The meaning of the word Ghurfah ((غرفة in the Holy Qur’an

No. The verse Abdallah Youssef translation Shaker translation
1. سورة البقرة، الآية 249:

“فلما فصل طالوت بالجنود قال إن الله مبتلييكم بنهر فمن شرب منه فليس مني ومن لم يطعمه فإنه مني إلا من اغترف غرفة بيده فشربوا منه إلا قليلا منهم فلما جاوزه هو والذين آمنوا معه قالوا لا طاقة لنا اليوم بجالوت وجنوده قال الذين يظنون أنهم ملاقو الله كم من فئة قليلة غلبت فئة كثيرة بإذن الله والله مع الصابرين.”

 

 

“When Talut set forth with the armies, he said:”(Allah) will test you at the stream: if any drinks of its water, He goes not with my army: Only those who taste not of it go with me: A mere sip out of the hand is excused.” but they all drank of it, except a few. When they crossed the river, – He and the faithful ones with him, they said: “This day we cannot cope with Goliath and his forces.” but those who were convinced that they must meet Allah, said: “How oft, by Allah’s will, Hath a small force vanquished a big one? Allah is with those who steadfastly persevere.” “So, when Talut departed with the forces, he said: Surely Allah will try you with a river; whoever then drinks from it, he is not of me, and whoever does not taste of it, he is surely of me, except he who takes with his hand as much of it as fills the hand; but with the exception of a few of them they drank from it. So, when he had crossed it, he and those who believed with him, they said: We have today no power against Jalut and his forces. Those who were sure that they would meet their Lord said: How often has a small party vanquished a numerous host by Allah’s permission, and Allah is with the patient.”
2. سورة الفرقان، الآية 75:

أولئك يجزون الغرفة بما صبروا ويلقون فيها تحية وسلاما “”

 

“Those are the ones who will be rewarded with the highest place in heaven, because of their patient constancy: therein shall they be met with salutations and peace” “These shall be rewarded with high places because they were patient, and shall be met therein with greetings and salutations”.

 

3. سورة العنكبوت، الآية 58:

” والذين آمنوا وعملوا الصالحات لنبوئنهم من الجنة غرفاً تجري من تحتها الأنهار خالدين فيها نعم أجر العاملين ”

 

“But those who believe and work deeds of righteousness – to them shall We give a Home in Heaven, -lofty mansions beneath which flow rivers, to dwell therein for aye; – an excellent reward for those who do (good)!” “And (as far) those who believe and do good, we will certainly give them abode in the high places in gardens beneath which rivers flow, abiding therein; how good the reward of the workers “.

 

4. سورة سبأ، الآية 37:

“وما أموالكم ولا أولادكم بالتي تقربكم عندنا زلفى إلا من آمن وعمل صالحا فأولئك لهم جزاء الضعف بما عملوا وهم في الغرفات آمنون”

“It is not your wealth nor your sons, that will bring you nearer to Us in degree: but only those who believe and work righteousness – these are the ones for whom there is a multiplied Reward for their deeds, while secure they (reside) in the dwellings on high! “ “And not your wealth nor your children, are the things which bring you near Us in station, but whoever believes and does good, these it is for whom is a double reward for what they do, and they shall be secure in the highest places”.

 

5. سورة الزمر، الآية 20:

“لكن الذين اتقوا ربهم لهم غرف من فوقها غرف مبنية تجري من تحتها الأنهار وعد الله لا يخلف الله الميعاد”

 

But it is for those who fear their Lord. That lofty mansion, one above another, have been built: beneath them flow rivers (of delight): (such is) the Promise of Allah. never doth Allah fail in (His) promise. But (as for) those who are careful of (their duty to) their Lord, they shall have high places, above them higher places, built (for them), beneath which flow rivers; (this is) the promise of Allah: Allah will not fail in (His) promise.

 

In Table 6, it is clear that the word Ghurfah ((غرفة has repeated in the Holy Quran 5 times with two different meanings the first one is to take a quality of water and in the other four verses are as a place in Paradise.

In rendering the meaning in the Quranic verses, the researchers observed the following regarding the two translators’ versions. They can be stated as follows regarding each verse:

  1. Sura Al-Baqarah (249)

The researchers recognized that there is no difference in the two translations of both Abdallah Youssef and Shaker. Both have translated the word Ghurfah ((غرفة in this verse as drinks.

  1. Sura Al-Furqan (75)

The researchers noticed that there is a simple difference in the translation in which Abdallah Youssef translated the word Ghurfah ((غرفة in this verse as the highest place in heaven while Shaker translated it as a high place.

  1. Sura Al-Ankaboot (58)

The researchers observed that there is a simple difference in the two translations in which Abdallah Youssef translated the word Ghurfah ((غرفة in this verse as a home in heaven with some explanation while Shaker translated it as a high place in gardens.

  1. Sura Saba (37)

The researchers noticed that there is a simple difference in the two    translations in which Abdallah Youssef translated the word Ghurfah ((غرفة in this verse by a high place while Shaker translated it as a highest place

  1. Sura Azuma (20)

The researchers noticed that there is a simple difference in the two translations in which Abdallah Youssef translated the word Ghurfah ((غرفة in this verse as a mansion, one above another while Shaker translated it as a high place, above them higher places.

  1. Conclusion

1.5 General Findings

After analyzing the data, the general findings can be summarized in the following points:

  1. In the Arabic dictionaries, the word Ghurfah ((غرفة has got the following meanings, namely quality of water, place in paradise, free room, high place, bedroom, room at home, lesson room, commercial chamber, and surgery room.
  2. In the Arabic Croups analysis, it is found that the most common meaning of the word Ghurfah ( (غرفة is a place, followed by virtual or metaphoric meaning, a place in paradise and lastly to take a quality of water respectively.
  3. The most common meaning used for of the word Ghurfah ((غرفة is the room of four walls.
  4. The meaning of the word Ghurfah (غرفة) in the Holy Quran was found with the two meanings the first one is homonymy which means, to take a quality of water which has been mentioned only one and the second one is a place in paradise which has been repeated 4 times.
  5. There is a simple difference between the two translations of Shaker and Abdallah Youssef regarding the interpretations of the word Ghurfah.

2.5 Recommendations

As based on the general findings, the researchers recommend the following:

  • Teachers are advised to have extensive experience in the field of polysemy so that they will be able to answer all students’ questions and inquiries. They must also have extensive experience to clarify and explain polysemy and apply modern teaching methods in order to make it easier for the student to understand.
  • Students have to know that there is always a need to call attention to the context in which words occur and their relation with other words in a sentence or a text.
  • Students are advised if they do not know the primary meaning or the common meaning of the word with polysemous meanings when translating it from English into Arabic to look at the usage and not only its meaning.

List of Bibliography

  • Abdulsafi, A., & Abdulsafi, S. (2022). Translation Difficulties of Polysemous Words from English into Arabic: A Case Study of Yemeni EFL University Students. Al-Adha University Journal3(3), 120-135. https://doi.org/10.56807/buj.v3i3.222
  • Ali, A. Y. (2012). The Meaning of the Glorious Quran Text, Translation & Commentary by: Abdullah Yusuf Ali. Retrieved from Islamic Buletin.
  • Al-Jarf, R. (2022). Challenges That Undergraduate Student Translators’ Face in Translating Polysemes from English to Arabic and Arabic to English. IJLLT, (84)‏.
  • Al-Musawer et al. (2022). Corpus-Linguistics Awareness Among BA Translation Student. (Unpublished Graduation Research) . Department of English, Faculty of Human & Social Sciences, University of science & Technology. Hodeida: University of science.
  • Alnamer, S. (2017). On the awareness of English polysemous words by Arabicspeaking EFL learners. Advances in Language and Literary Studies, 8 (2), 112-121
  • Beghoul, Y., & Hamlaoui, H. (2017). Ambiguity of Polysemous English Words in Translation.‏
  • Falkum, I. L., & Vicente, A. (2015). Polysemy: Current perspectives and approaches. 
  • Hamlaoui, M. H. (2010). Ambiguity of Polysemous English Words in Translation: The Case of Second Year Students at the University of Constantine (Doctoral dissertation, Doctoral thesis. Algeria: Mentouri University of Constantine).‏
  • Lopukhina, A., Laurinavichyute, A., Lopukhin, K., & Dragoy, O. (2018). The Mental Representation of Polysemy Across Word Classes. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 1-16.
  • Marini, C., & Jezek, E. (2019). CROATPAS: A Resource of Corpus-derived Typed Predicate Argument Structures for Croatian. In: CLiC-it.
  • Vicente, A., & Falkum, I. L. (2017). Polysemy. InOxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics. Ed. Mark Aronoff.‏

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Data availability statements

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Ethical approval

This article does not contain any studies with human participants performed by any of the authors.

Informed consent

This article does not contain any studies with human participants performed by any of the authors

Appendix 1: Samples of the Arabic word Ghurfah on ArabiCorpus

[1] Translated by Abdallah Youssef and Shaker

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