Step-by-Step Arabic Literature Translation #12

طَبيعة

root: ط-ب-ع / noun / definition: nature

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My appointment to reconnect with nature is approaching and it can’t come soon enough. I’ve been feeling sort of anxiously suspended between buildings and roads here in London and—whilst local parks have been somewhat of a refuge from all things grey—sandy beaches, turquoise waters, and sunshine are calling out.

On the topic of nature, I thought we’d take a look at (and translate) an excerpt today from an Arabic novel about humans’ interaction with the environment.

I’ve taken our source text for today’s step-by-step literature translation from my Advanced Arabic Literary Reader, which I used during my sorely-missed Arabic literature classes for my master’s degree.

The novel, by Saudi-Iraqi, Jordanian-born Abdul Rahman Munif, is called النهايات (“Endings”).

To get you situated, so far a so-called “oddball” (غريب الأطوار) who tried to warn his town about their over-exploitation of natural resources and the imminent drought has died at the hands of nature, and the town’s leader has been giving an emotive elegiac speech to some of his fellow townsmen. Then:

كاد أن يواصل، خاصة وأن كلماته نزلت إلى قلوب الرجال وكأنها السكاكين الملتهبة، فحركت الرؤوس ودفعت حبّات من الدموع لكي تتساقط بصمت، لكن فجأة تغيّرت أفكاره واضطربت

There’s some interesting structures and phrases to explore here. As usual, we’ll break the excerpt down into smaller chunks for the word-by-word translation then put everything together neatly at the end.

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We’ll start with this:

كاد أن يواصل، خاصة وأن كلماته نزلت إلى قلوب الرجال

كاد

root: ك-و-د

form I verb, past tense, third person, masculine singular

كادَ / يَكادُ = “to almost (do something)”, “to be about to (do something)”

as discussed in more detail in Using كاد, there’s more than one way to use this verb: we might see it followed directly by a present tense verb (المضارع المرفوع) or we’ll see it followed by أنْ then the present tense verb (المضارع المنصوب, this time)

the subject of كاد is المُختار (“the leader”), which is not mentioned in this excerpt, hence the third person, masculine singular conjugation

so, كادَ here = “he almost” or “he was about to”

أن

أَنْ = a particle that links two verbs, translated as “to” in some contexts

the verb following أن is always المضارع المنصوب (the present tense subjunctive)

يواصل

root: و-ص-ل

form III verb, present tense subjunctive, third person, masculine singular

واصَلَ / يُواصِلُ = “to continue, go on”

here, seeing as the verb is after أنْ and therefore المضارع المنصوب, it will end in a fatha: يُواصِلَ

the subject again is المختار

together, كادَ أنْ يُواصِلَ = “he almost continued” or “he was about to go on”

خاصة

root: خ-ص-ص

adverb

خاصّةً = “especially”

وأن

components: وَ + أَنَّ

we often see this combination of و (“and”, “while”) and أَنَّ (“that”) following the adverb خاصةً to give us the meaning of “especially since/as/because”

أنّ is always followed by a جملة اسمية (a clause that can be a standalone sentence, and begins with either a noun or pronoun)

أنّ is a sister of إنّ, meaning that they have the same grammatical effect on the following clause, i.e. the subject (مبتدأ) of the clause after this particle will be منصوب (in accusative case) and the predicate (خبر)—if it’s a noun—will be مرفوع (in nominative case)

you’ll notice that the grammatical effect of the sisters of إنّ is essentially opposite to that of كان and its sisters

كلماته

components: كَلِمات + ـه

root: ك-ل-م

plural noun

كَلِمة = “word”

this noun takes a sound feminine plural ending: كَلِمات = “words”

ـه = the possessive pronoun suffix, “his”, referring to المختار

note that, due to the possessive suffix, كلمات here is definite

كلمات is the مبتدأ of the جملة اسمية following أنّ—so, as mentioned above, it has to be منصوب

sound feminine plurals, when منصوب and definite, end in a kasra rather than a fatha: كلماتِ

(more information about that can be found in Case Endings of the Sound Feminine Plural)

when preceded by a kasra, the possessive suffix ـهُ is pronounced ـهِ

so كلماتِهِ = “his words”

نزلت

root: ن-ز-ل

form I verb, past tense, third person, feminine singular

نَزِلَ / يَنزَلُ = “to descend”

this verb marks the beginning of the خبر (predicate) of the جملة اسمية, i.e. the خبر here is a verbal phrase

the subject of نَزِلَتْ is كلماته—remember that non-human plurals are treated grammatically as the feminine singular, hence the feminine singular verb conjugation

كلماته نزلت = “his words descended”

إلى

preposition

إلى = “to”

قلوب

root: ق-ل-ب

plural noun

قَلب = “heart”, قُلوب = “hearts”

قلوب directly follows a preposition and is therefore مجرور

it’s also the first word in a definite two-word إضافة (possessive) construction, so it can’t begin with الـ despite it being definite, nor can it end in tanween

hence it ends in a kasra: قلوبِ

الرجال

components: الـ + رِجال

root: ر-ج-ل

plural noun

رَجُل = “man”, رِجال = “men”

الـ = the definite prefix

being the last word of the إضافة, this noun is مجرور

it’s also definite, as we can see from the الـ—so it would end in a kasra

together, قلوبِ الرجالِ = “the hearts of the men” or “the men’s hearts”

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So far, that gives us:

كاد أن يواصل، خاصة وأن كلماته نزلت إلى قلوب الرجال

he was about to go on, especially since his words descended to the men’s hearts

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Next part:

وكأنها السكاكين الملتهبة، فحركت الرؤوس ودفعت حبّات من الدموع لكي تتساقط بصمت

وكأنها

components: وَ + كَأَنَّ + ـها

(if we’re being fussy, we could technically split up كأنّ further: كَـ + أَنَّ)

كَأَنَّ = “as though” or “as if”

وَ is often used with كأنّ, perhaps because وَ is used to introduce حال (circumstantial) clauses—حال clauses basically give us more information about how, when, or in what way the previous verb (here: نزلت) occurred or was carried out

ـها = pronoun suffix, referring to كلماته (remember: non-human plurals are treated as the feminine singular)

note that كأنّ, given what we mentioned about أنّ above, has to be followed by a جملة اسمية

the start of this جملة اسمية is actually the attached pronoun ـها

so كَأَنَّها = “as though they (his words)(were)”

السكاكين

components: الـ + سَكاكين

plural noun

سِكّين = “knife”, سَكاكين = “knives”

سكاكين is a diptote (ممنوع من الصرف), meaning it usually can only take either a damma or fatha ending

however, it’s preceded by the definite prefix الـ here which allows it to take any of the usual case endings

السكاكين is the start of the خبر of the جملة اسمية after كأَنَّ, and is مرفوع

so it’s السكاكينُ

الملتهبة

components: الـ + ملتهبة

root: ل-ه-ب

adjective, form VIII active participle

مُلتَهِب = “burning” or “flaming”

ملتهب is the active participle (اسم فاعل) derived from the form VIII verb اِلتَهَبَ / يَلتَهِبُ (“to burn”)

الملتهبة is in a noun-adjective phrase with السكاكين and therefore has to agree with it in four ways: definiteness, case, gender, and number

السكاكين is definite, مرفوع, and a non-human plural so الملتهبة is also definite, مرفوع, and is feminine and singular due to the non-human plural

السكاكين الملتهبة = “burning knifes”

فحركت

components: فَـ + حَرَّكَتْ

root: ح-ر-ك

form II verb, past tense, third person, feminine singular

حَرَّكَ / يُحَرِّكُ = “to move (something)”

the subject of this verb can be understood in one of two ways: either it’s كلماته or it’s السكاكين—i.e. either it’s his words moving something or it’s the knives he compared them to doing the action

both possible subjects are non-human plurals so, either way, that’s why the verb is conjugated for the feminine singular: حَرَّكَتْ

فَـ = “so” or “then”, we’ll see if we need to translate this in the wider context

(I personally read the subject of the verb as كلماته, and the فَـ being an indication that we’re continuing on from the original subject)

الرؤوس

components: الـ + رُؤوس

root: ر-ء-س

plural noun

رَأْس = “head”, رُؤوس = “heads”

(take a look at the flowchart I made in Seats of the Hamza (ء) to see why the ء in رأس sits on an alif while the one in رؤوس sits on a و)

الـ = the definite prefix

الرؤوس is the object of the verb حرّكت, and therefore منصوب, so: الرؤوسَ

ودفعت

components: وَ + دَفَعَتْ

root: د-ف-ع

form I verb, past tense, third person, feminine singular

دَفَعَ / يَدفَعُ = “to push” or “to induce”

the subject of this verb is كلماته, the same as that of حركت

وَ = “and”

حبّات

root: ح-ب-ب

plural noun

حَبّة = “grain” or “bead”, and حبّات is its plural with the sound feminine plural ending

حبّات is indefinite and the object of the verb دفعت, so its case ending is kasratayn: حبّاتٍ

(remember, sound feminine plural endings don’t take fatha or fathatayn!)

من

preposition

مِن = “from” or “of”

here, it carries the latter meaning

الدموع

components: الـ + دُموع

root: د-م-ع

plural noun

دُموع = “tears”, the singular form is دَمْعة (“a single tear”)

الـ = the definite prefix

الدموع directly follows a preposition, so it’s مجرور

حبّات من الدُّموعِ = “beads of tears”

لكي

components: لِـ + كَي

particle

both لِـ and كَي mean “(in order) to” or “so that” and together… they still mean the same thing

لِكَي was one of the particles I mentioned in Four Particles That Mean “So That”, and it’s followed by المضارع المنصوب

تتساقط

root: س-ق-ط

form VI verb, present tense subjunctive, third person, feminine singular

تَساقَطَ / يَتَساقَطُ = “to fall down or out”

(remember you can check out Reference: Arabic Verb Forms Table to see the different verb forms and their derivatives)

تَتَساقَطَ ends in a fatha, being that it is the subjunctive following لكي, and its subject is the non-human plural حبات من الدموع

بصمت

components: بِـ + صَمْت

root: ص-م-ت

adverb

صَمت = “silence”

you might know that there are two ways to form adverbs from nouns: you either add fathatayn, or add بِـ

so بِصَمت = “silently”

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Together:

وكأنها السكاكين الملتهبة، فحركت الرؤوس ودفعت حبّات من الدموع لكي تتساقط بصمت

as though they were burning knives, (so) they moved heads and induced beads of tears to fall down silently

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And onto the last chunk:

لكن فجأة تغيّرت أفكاره واضطربت

لكن

particle

لكِن = “but” or “however”

فجأة

root: ف-ج-ء

adverb

فَجأَةً = “suddenly”

تغيّرت

root: غ-ي-ر

form V verb, past tense, third person, feminine singular

تَغَيَّرَ / يَتَغَيَّرُ = “to change”—this verb is intransitive which means it has no object, whatever the subject is is the one “changing”, it’s not changing something else

the subject is the following non-human plural, hence the feminine singular verb conjugation

أفكاره

components: أَفْكار + هُ

root: ف-ك-ر

plural noun

فِكرة = “idea”, أَفكار = “ideas”

ـهُ = the possessive pronoun suffix, “his” (we’re referring to المختار again)

أفكاره is the subject of the preceding verb and therefore مرفوع, i.e. أَفكارُهُ

واضطربت

components: وَ + اِضطَرَبَتْ

root: ض-ر-ب

form VIII verb, past tense, third person, feminine singular

اِضطَرَبَ / يَضطَرِبُ = “to become confused or disorganised”

this verb displays assimilation, where the ت we usually see in form VIII verbs has become a ط to be phonetically closer to the root letter ض that it’s next to

(I talk a bit more about assimilation in Step-by-Step Arabic Literature Translation #6 and The Case of امّحق: Form VII Assimilation)

the verb’s subject is again أفكاره

and, as we know, وَ = “and” or “then”

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That gives us:

لكن فجأة تغيّرت أفكاره واضطربت

but suddenly his thoughts changed and became confused

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Okay, so it’s time to put all of that together now:

كاد أن يواصل، خاصة وأن كلماته نزلت إلى قلوب الرجال وكأنها السكاكين الملتهبة، فحركت الرؤوس ودفعت حبّات من الدموع لكي تتساقط بصمت، لكن فجأة تغيّرت أفكاره واضطربت

he was about to go on, especially since his words descended to the men’s hearts as though they were burning knives, (so) they moved heads and induced beads of tears to fall down silently, but suddenly his thoughts changed and became confused

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Not sounding very natural is it? Let’s make some edits:

كاد أن يواصل، خاصة وأن كلماته نزلت إلى قلوب الرجال وكأنها السكاكين الملتهبة، فحركت الرؤوس ودفعت حبّات من الدموع لكي تتساقط بصمت، لكن فجأة تغيّرت أفكاره واضطربت

he was about to go on, especially seeing how his words had pierced the men’s hearts as though they were searing knives, causing heads to bow and tears to fall silently, but suddenly his thoughts became disturbed

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Translation notes:

• “especially since” > “especially seeing how”—the latter sounded a bit more natural to me, and it also made sense that “seeing how” his words were affecting people, he’d want to carry on with his speech

• “descended to the men’s hearts” > “pierced the men’s hearts”—I was thinking to put either “struck” or “pierced” in the place of “descended” which both seemed more fitting when comparing the words to knives

• “burning” > “searing”—I thought the latter better evoked both the idea of heat and that of pain
• “(so) they moved heads and induced beads of tears to fall” > “causing heads to bow and tears to fall”—I mean this part just sounded too odd to be left alone; I took the liberty of asserting how the heads were moving (bowing? shaking? trembling?) and used the verb “causing” in the place of both “moving” and “inducing”
• “his thoughts changed and became confused” > “his thoughts became disturbed”—I thought that “became disturbed” summed up both the change and confusion here, although maybe “changed” emphasises the sudden shift?

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That’s my go at a translation—what parts would you translate differently?

!إلى اللقاء

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