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culturalandpoliticallifeontheIranianplateau,translationactivitieswere
motivatedbythedesiretopreserveanancientcivilization;theseactivitiesmay
becreditedforwhatinsightswehavegainedintopreIslamicIranianculture.
Persian,spokenthroughouttheIranianplateauforoveramillennium,has
undergonefewchanges,remainingessentiallyatthesamestageof
morphologicalevolution.Theproximityofneighbouringlanguageswhichbelong
todifferentlinguisticfamilies(thestrongerinfluenceofArabiconWesternIran,
andUzbekandotherTurkiclanguagesonEasternIran),thepushandpullof
nationalism,andthefiftyyearexperimentwiththeCyrillicalphabetinSoviet
Tajikistan(1940–90),havehadlittleeffectonthestructuraltiesamongits
varieties.Semantically,ofcourse,itsdifferentvarietiesreflectcomplicated
processesoflinguisticabsorptionandappropriation.However,nonehasbeen
substantialenoughtocreateanewlanguage.
Anydiscussionofthetranslationtraditioninthislanguagemustbeginwiththe
verycomplexandmultifacetedrelationshipbetweenArabicandPersianinthe
eighthandninthcenturies.Itmusttakenoteoftwoparalleltrends.Thefirst,
alreadymentioned,consistedofaseriesoftranslationsmadefromextanttexts
intoArabic,latertranslatedbackintoPersian.Thesecondactivity,undertaken
byPersianconvertstoIslam,tooktheshapeprimarilyofcommentariesonthe
holyQur’ān.AsthewordofGod,theQur’ānwasconsidereduntranslatable.
PersianspeakingMuslimsthereforeproducedimportanttextstopropagate
God’smessagetobelieverswhodidnotunderstandArabic.Whiletechnically
conceivedascommentaries,suchtextsnonethelesscontainedmuchwordfor
wordtranslation.Muslimcommentatorsbyandlargekeptthesentence
structureandsyntaxofQur’ānicversesintact,supplementingthemwith
extensivecommentaries.Moreoftenthannot,suchtranslationsproducedan
effectofestrangementinPersianreaders,signallingthealiencharacterofthe
languageinwhichGodhadrevealedhismessage.
Inadditiontothefirstexamplesofabuddingpoetictradition,theearliestextant
documentsinPersianincludeanumberoftranslations.Amongthesewecan
count,interestingly,twoimportantdocumentsinscriptsotherthanthemodified
ArabicscriptusedforwritingPersian:acommentaryonEzechielintheHebrew
scriptandatranslationofthePsalmsintheSyrianscript.Besidesthese,the
mostsignificantearlyexamplesofnonreligioustranslationintoPersianwere
translationsofArabicworks.Forinstance,theinfluentialHodudal‘Ālam
(FrontiersoftheWorld),anextremelyimportantearlyPersianbookof
unknownauthorship,isatranslationofpartsofTabari’sHistory.As
philologicaldocuments,suchworkssetthestandardofadmissibilityofArabic
lexiconintoPersian.Astranslations,theyprovidedamodelofprosewritingin
Persianwhichremainedoperativeformanycenturies.
Inthetenththroughtwelfthcenturies,translationintoPersiangathered
tremendousmomentum,makingavailabletoPersianreadersanimpressivearray
ofknowledgeinfieldsasdiverseasmedicine,astronomy,geography,history
andphilosophy.Theclimateofreligioustoleranceandintellectualdebate
establishedinBaghdadbysomeAbbasidcaliphsprovidedamodelforlocal
rulersindifferentpartsofIran,particularlyinthenortheasternregionsof
KhorāsānandTransoxiana.Undercourtlypatronage,worksoriginatingin
GreekandLatin,SyriacandAramaic,evenChineseandSanskrit,beganto
appearinPersian,oftenthroughprevioustranslationsinArabic.
Inalltheseactivities,theapproachtotranslationwasessentiallyutilitarianand
pragmaticinnature.Translatorsthoughtitnecessary,importantorusefulto
translatecertainworks,andtheydidsoefficientlyandwithoutmuchpretension.
Typically,textsweresubjectedtoavarietyofchanges;theyweresimplified,
annotated,abridged,illustratedwithpicturesanddiagrams,amendedthrough
sequels,orotherwisealteredtosuitthespecificneedsofthepatronandthenew
readership.Translatorsofseculartextsgavemoreprioritytothegrammatical
featuresofPersianthanhadthetranslatorsoftheQur’ānandotherIslamic
texts.Asaresult,tworatherdichotomousapproachestotranslationgained
currency,oneconsideredappropriatetoreligiousandphilosophicdiscourse,the
other,freerapproach,thoughtsuitableforscientifictranslation.
Examplesofthelatterapproacharetoomanytoenumerate,buttwoareworth
mentioninghere.Inthe1080sMohammadb.Mansurof