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DOI: 10.29013/EJLL-23-4-26-30
PROBLEMS OF TRANSLATION OF LEXEMES OF TIME UNITS IN THE NOVEL "DAYS GONE BY" BY ABDULLA KADIRI
Muhammadyusuf Tursunov 1
1 Namangan State University, Uzbekistan
Cite: Tursunov, M. (2023). Problems of Translation of Lexemes of Time Units in the Novel "Days Gone By" by Abdulla Kadiri. European Journal of Literature and Linguistics 2023, No 3. https://doi.org/10.29013/EJLL-23-4-26-30
Abstract
Until the introduction of the metric system in the world in 1918, various measurement units were used in Central Asian countries. In expressing time, hijri, dalv month, sunset, hamduna, rush hour, midnight, dawn, noon, evening, etc. These units of measurement, representing different values that have long served as a means of measurement between our peoples with different values.
In terms of our research on Abdulla Qadiri's novel "Days gone by", the units of measurement used were understandable for the people of that time. This article analyzes the lexemes of time measurement in English translations of A. Kadiri's novel "Days gone by" (O'tkan kunlar) based on some examples.
Keywords: Translation, "Days gone by", originality, adequacy, translator's skills, historical period, time scale
Introduction
It is known, when humanity had appeared and they needed to measure something, time, distance, volume in the same way as having vital needs. We can say without hesitation that each unit of measurement has its own long history. When units of measurement did not exist, people used units of measurement that were understandable precisely to them when measuring the amount of something, based on their needs over the periods. Naturally, each period and place had its own units of measurement. It should be noted here that in ancient times, human body parts were also used as a measuring tool, and these measurements were introduced taking into account
that everyone could use them. For example, year, season, month, day, sunrise, sunset, beginning and end of seasons, sunrise, sunset and other things are used as the basis for expressing time.
Various measurement units were used in Central Asian countries until the introduction of the metric system in the world in 1918. In expressing time, various concepts were used such as hijriy, dalv oyi, quyosh botqan, hamduna, bir tutam, choshgog', yarim tun, bom-dod, peshin, asr, shom, og'irlikni va masofani olchashda marhala, farsax, (farsang), tosh yig'och tanob, botmon, pud, isbat (barmoq), qadoq, chorak, quloch, tutam, enli, qarich, qadam, manzil, gaz, cho'zim, mina, mis-
qol, nima, nimata, paysa, payt, pina, posira quruh, shohruxiy, man, shibir (qarich), po'ta, sotih, chilla, talant, tassuj, turmusa, uqi-ya, unsiya, ziro, suyam, aqirim, paqir, miri, dahsar, nimcha, shair, yetmay, yesirak, dona.
These units of measurement, representing different values, have long served as a means of measurement between our peoples with different values. For example, when we read fiction or historical books, we might come across unfamiliar words of some of our great poets and scholars used the units of measurements. Such examples can be found in the works of Sakkoki, Makhmur, Lutfiy, Furqat, and even in the works of contemporary writers such as Abdulla Kadiri, Abdul-la Qahhor, Gafur Ghulam, Sharaf Rashidov, Nazir Safarov, Odil Yakubov, Pirimkul Kad-irov, Mirmuhsin.
Based on the task of our research, we would like to focus on the units of measurement found in Abdulla Qadiri's novel "Days Gone By". Despite the fact that the work is expressed in a simple language, the work depicts the suffering of the people due to injustices, injustices, wars and conflicts, and the lack of human dignity in the work with a deep artistic and philosophical observation.
Materials and Methods
On the one hand, the novel " Days Gone By " is a work of art that expresses the life of two lovers, on the other hand, it exposes the feelings that rebelled in the writer's heart, the injustices of that time, the oppression and injustices against the people, the wars and conflicts of the khans and begs for their own benefit, and the history., is a work that can show politics in itself. In the novel, the lexical wealth of the Uzbek language is effectively used to vividly express the lifestyle of the Uzbek people, and of course, it also pays great attention to the lexemes of units of measurement, such as various fields.
From the point of view of systematic linguistics, the research devoted to the possibilities of time units in text creation belongs to M. Hakimova (2004), in which time-meaning lexical groups are widely and comprehensively analyzed from the point of view of systematic linguistics.
Another unique aspect of the novel "Days Gone By" is that it vividly portrays events
and events in a vivid and vital way, and historical events through pictorial means. In the work, the events are expressed in a truthful way through the means of artistic images, so that the reader involuntarily feels as if he is walking with the heroes of the work, as if he is in that time and place. The image's brilliance, vividness, and the range of thoughts in it are surprising. In the style of "Days Gone By" mainly the following aspects are clearly visible:
1. Abdulla Qadiri's truthful and lively description of historical events;
2. To be able to accurately show the landscape of the period, national customs and express them artistically by scientific and practical analysis;
3. A unique style - ending of "rebellion against injustice";
4. It is a feature of conveying events to the student at a high artistic level, through artistic and pictorial means.
There is a certain difference between the old names of the months, which represent the measure of time, and the international month names used in our language today. Also, the difference between the Gregorian calendar and the solar calendar is 11 days. The Gregorian calendar is 365 days, and the solar calendar is 354 days (Kholmirzaev, 2003).
There are different opinions about the role of such language tools, which used to indicate the measurement of time in our language. There are many numerical words that express the meaning of time in the novel "Days Gone By" such as century, month, year, season, days of the week, hour, minute, seconds, namaz times Dhuhr (afternoon), Asr (late afternoon), Maghrib (after sunset), tea time, a brief time like opening an eye, etc. Such numerical words expressing the meaning of time are divided into the following groups according to their meaning:
1. The dates of the year reflected in the work can be added to the numerals representing the year. For example, at the beginning of the work, the time when Otabek came to Margilon on trade is expressed as follows: 1264 Hijri (Kadiri, 1994);
2. Winter, summer, autumn, spring are the numerals representing the season. "The end of the autumn days is the beginning of the winter days" (Kadiri, 1994);
3. Numeratives representing months include Aquaious, Germini, Aries... (Kadiri, 1994).
Abdulla Qadiri widely used many pictorial means in the novel "Days Gone By" to truthfully show the events and express the spirit of the time. Especially when showing the time of the incident, he was able to fully describe the scenery of that time. In this, in front of the reader's eyes, as well as time, the environment is fully embodied. For example:
"1264-nchi hijriy, dalv oyining 17-nchi-si, qishki kunlarning biri, quyosh botqan, tevarakdan shom azoni eshitiladur" (Kadiri, 1994).
In this extracted passage, the writer first expressed the year, but for clarification, he emphasized "qish kunlarining biri" (one of the winter days). Here, "Dalv oyi" (Month Dalv) can be understood as the month of January. January itself is considered one of the winter months. In addition, more clarity is introduced through the lexeme representing the time "quyosh botqan" (sunset). That is, it is expressed that it is the evening of that day, that is, the time after sunset. In addition, the phrase "shom azoni eshitiladir" (hearing Maghrib Azan) means that it is time for one of the five daily prayers in the Muslim world. That is, the time when the sun sets and darkness begins to fall and the prayer is performed at this time. In this way, while the lexemes representing the time complement each other, a specific time is depicted in front of the reader's eyes, as well as the historicity is fully expressed.
Now, we can analyse how artistic expression are expressed in all three English translations of the work:
Original text: "1264-nchi hijriy, dalv oyining 17-nchisi, qishki kunlarning biri, quyosh botqan, tevarakdan shom azoni eshiti-ladur".
Translation by Tuhtasinov I, Muminov O, and Khamidov A. "It was the 17th day of the winter month Dalv in the year of1264. After the sunset, calls for evening prayers came from nearby" (Qodiriy, 2017).
Here, "month Dalv" is the name of the month translated from Uzbek to English by transcription and explained as (i.e. Dalv-Jan-uary) at the bottom of the page. If we focus on the English word "prayers" denote a reg-
ular religious ceremony with prayers: daily/ morning/evening prayers. He reads the Koran and attends daily prayers. When translating phrases and scientific terms, it is important to choose a suitable equivalents in translation. The translators have tried to express the time expressed by the author in a way that is comprehensible to the English readers. The short description of the name of the month "Dalv" given at the bottom of the page does not cause any difficulty for the reader to understand. In order to achieve adequacy in translation, the translators followed the author's style and translated the phrase "qishki kunlarning biri" as "day of the winter month". An alternative has been achieved in the translation.
The same extract translated by Carol Er-makova in the following:
"It was the seventeenth day of the month of dalv, hijri year 1264. A winter day. Calls to evening prayer rang from all around as the sunset" (Days Gone by, 2018, translated by Carol Ermakova).
The lexeme denoting the time "1264-nchi hijriy" in the original text was transliterated into English as "Hijri year 1264". Under the text to the word "Hijri" was explained to make it understandable to the English reader in the following: "Hijri-Prophet Mukham-mad's a flight from Makka to Madina (16 july 622 AD). This event marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar. The date referred to here corresponds to 7 February 1848". This explanation given below the text allows the English-speaking reader to understand and understand the time, as well as to get brief information about the Islamic world and about the journey of the Prophet Mohammad, may God bless him and grant him peace, from Makkah to Madinah. During the translation, while preserving the author's style, clarifications were made in the style of "A winter day". In general, the original meaning is reflected in the translation.
This extract was translated into English again in 2018 by another translator, Mark Riese, who helped to popularize Qadiri's novel to English-speaking readers around the world. Above is the original text translated by Mark Reese as follows:
"It was the year 1264 of the Hijra, the seventeenth day of Dalv, a winter day. The
Sun descended into the horizon as darkness set in, and one could hear the call to prayer resonating in clear tones throughout the still evening air" (Bygone days, 2018, translated by Mark E. Reese).
It can be seen that the translator paid special attention to every detail expressed by the author. The time lexeme "1264 of the Hi-jra" may be confusing to an English reader. In order to prevent this, the translator translated this lexeme by means of transcription and gave the explanation in the form of a bibliography at the end of the translation of the novel. The time lexeme "Day of Dalv" is also transliterated and explained as mentioned above. The lexeme expressing time in the original text "quyosh botqan, tevarakdan shom azoni eshitiladur" has been translated into "The Sun descended into the horizon as darkness set in, and one could hear the call to prayer resonating in clear tones throughout the still evening air". At first glance, the text of the translation seems a bit long. But in reality, the understood meaning is fully expressed. The translator was able to express the author's style of expression more beautifully. For example, the combination "quyosh botqon" in the original text could be changed to "sunset" style.
In English, sunset denotes noon. The time in the evening when the Sun goes down below the horizon and night begins. Mark Reese expressed the sunset in English with the verb "to descend", which is used in literary works. "To descend" in English denotes a literary if night or darkness descends, it starts to get dark. It seems that in the translation of artistic works, it would be more correct to express "sunset" with the verb "to descend" and not with the verb "sunset". In this respect, Mark Reese, the translator of the work, went the right way in choosing words.
The author of the original text not only wants to express that it was evening, but also expressed the exact time through the combination "tevarakdan shom azoni eshitiladur" in the original text. As we know, is the the phrase "tevarakdan shom azoni eshitiladur" is used with "dalv oyining 17-nchisi" means a specific hour.
The reason is that in the Muslim world, the time of the five daily prayers varies depending on the season, month, day, and sun-
set on that day. So, on the 17th of the month of Dalv, the evening prayer is performed at a specific hour, and that hour is understandable for the reader of the original text. Translators should be able to clearly convey the translation to the reader, fully understanding this point. In this respect, Mark Reese's translation is faithful to the original.
If we compare the same extract translated by Carol Ermakova is a bit different from the meaning "Calls to evening prayer rang from all around as the sunset". Here, "rang" in English conveys the past tense of ring, to make a bell produce a sound: a bell rang and the children trooped back into the school". In the Muslim world, bell is not ring, which may be the case in other religious nations.
When translating this novel into English, each of the translators translated it according to their own way and style. Especially those who thoroughly studied and tried to restore comparative images. They used types of syntactic adaptation of grammatical transformations in the representation of comparative images. It all depends on the skill of the translator, of course. In this regard, it is worth to state Rahimov's notes about translation "when translating not only a figurative or emotionally-affective linguistic tool used for the expression of a certain methodological task, but also a word or phrase with a free meaning, which is imagined to be practically unchallenging, the translator always tries to understand the meaning of that tool in the translation language, which word or phrase is more clear and it is necessary to think about which of the available options is more in line with the spirit of the original, and always ask yourself the question of how to express the intended idea more fluently (Shodmonova, 2020).
All three translators of the work reflected the above-mentioned circumstances in a certain sense. This is evidenced by pragmatism, adequacy, artistry and accuracy in the translation of time measurement units. It is a very delicate matter to determine the standard of such language units in translation, which are typical for the time when the classic work was created, but which are currently in the passive layer of the language, ensuring that the original is a true historical source. It is important to study how they are reflected in the translation. In this case, the translator has to study
the language of the people living in the same country and speaking the same language, both synchronically and diachronically. Because it is necessary to take into account that language units that are in the inactive layer in one national language are in active use in another national language. In this case, the translator is required to have a historical approach to the translation and accurately reflect the narrative of historical events.
Conclusion
When creating an alternative translation to the original, the well-known scientist Fyodorov states referring to the units that indicate the measure of time, "in practice,
it is very rare for a single-meaning word to match the same-meaning word in the original in different contexts" (Fyodorov, 1983) referring to calendar concepts (names of months, days of the week) refer to time units. It should also be mentioned that such lexical units, which mean calendar concepts or time measurement, when it comes to the translation of works using the Gregorian year calculation, this is proven when their translation or transliteration is carried out in the Gregorian year calculation. However, it is more difficult for translators to translate them into the modern language in cases where the Hijri year calculation is used in the classic works depicting the life of the East.
References:
Abdulla, Qadiri. (2018). Days Gone By, translated by Carol Ermakova. Nouveau monde,- Paris.
Abdullah, Qodiriy. (2018). Bygone days, translated by Mark E. Reese. Library of Congress Control Number 2019. - 914747.
Fyodorov, A. V. (1983). Fundamentals of the general theory of translation (linguistic problems).- Moscow.
Hakimova, M. (2004). Lexical units with meaning of time in Uzbek language and their possibilities of text formation. Ferghana.
Kholmirzaev, F. (2003). A memory is beautiful when it wakes up. - Tashkent.
Macmillan English dictionary for advanced learners. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. 2002.
Qadiri, A. (1994). "Days Gone By".- Tashkent.
Qodiriy, Abdulla. (2017). The Days Gone By: Novel. Translators: I. M. Tuhtasinov, O. M. Mumi-nov, A. A. Khamidov. - Tashkent.
Shodmonova, S. (2020). Problems of translation of lexemes of time measurement units in the text "Boburnoma" into English. - Tashkent.
submitted 03.10.2023;
accepted for publication 10.11.2023;
published 16.01.2024
© Tursunov, M.
Contact: mtursunov@mail.ru
