Translated Qurʾān euphemisms: foreignised or domesticated?

ABSTRACT

This paper analyses four different translations of the Qurʾān and probes the techniques used for translating sex-related Qurʾānic euphemism. The main question of the paper is to what extent Qurʾān translations are domesticated or foreignised with regard to translating euphemisms. The theoretical framework employed a combination of both Venuti’s translation approach and Vinay and Darbelnet’s translation techniques; the results show that both literal translation and modulation are pervasively used in the assessed four translations and that both domesticated and foreignised translations are capable of delivering euphemistic translations.

KEYWORDS:

• Translations of the Qur’an
• euphemism
• foreignisation
• domestication

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mohammed Albarakati

Mohammed Albarakati is an assistant professor of Comparative Linguistics in the European Languages Department, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah. He got his PhD from the Department of Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Leeds, UK, in 2013. He is currently the vice-dean for Development and the acting head of the English department in the Rabigh branch. He has published several papers in the area of Qurʾān translation assessment and participated in a number of conferences. His research interests include Arabic translation issues, Qurʾān translation, and comparative linguistic studies.