Abstract
A Comparative Evaluation of Mecmau'l-Emsâl's Translations in the XIX and XX Century
Translation activities in Turkish literature in Anatolia sustained their development through Arabic and Persian works until the Tanzimat reform period. Although the direction of translation shifted to Western works with the shift of axis after the Tanzimat, there was also a significant increase in the translations of Eastern classics. One of the works in question is Ahmed Meydânî's Majmau'l-Emsâl, in which he explains the Arabic proverbs. Three translations to Turkish of this work were made at the end of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. This article compares the three translations in terms of the method they follow in translation, their goals, the way they process the subjects, their content, and their sources. The first of these is Saîd Pasha's translation entitled Nuhbetü'l-Emsâl. Saîd Pasha translated 330 proverbs he selected from Mecmau'l-Emsâl in a language far from artistic concerns and expanded his translation with additional explanations from time to time. The second is Hâfız Mehmed Şâkir's translation Menbau'z-Zülâli Meânî fî-Tercemeti Mecmau'l-Emsâli Meydânî. Mehmed Şâkir translated the first 22 chapters of Mecmau'l-Emsâl, which consisted of 30 chapters. During his translation, he gave examples of numerous Arabic and Persian poems. He also included and explained many proverbs that were not in Majmau'l-Emsâl. The third is Ali Salaheddin's Nuhbetü'l-Emsâl. Ali Salahaddin translated 829 proverbs he selected from Majmau'l-Emsâl in a simple and comprehensible language and then expressed each proverb with at least one couplet. These works, two written during the Tanzimat and one in the Republican period, continue the traditional understanding of translation as a method but also reflect the traces of the period in which they were written in terms of language and purpose.
Keywords
Translation, Majmau'l-Emsâl, Saîd Pasha, Mehmed Şâkir, Ali Salâhaddin, Nuhbetü'l-Emsâl.