Mozarabic translators, Jewish grammarians and Qurʼānic exegetes. Two translation issues and an exegetical tradition

Abstract

Our aim in this article deals with three different issues, coming from three different textual and ideological environments. The first question under study deals with an Arabic expression from the Andalusi Gospels (Lk 15:25) with which the Latin-Arabic bilingual translators rendered the Latin original, where the use of the term zajal with semantic evolution (“chant”) stands out, which the Mozarabic translator uses in a masterly way. In the second question, we analyse the term funduqāniyya (“innkeeper; harlot”) in a Judaeo-Arabic text in order to clarify its meaning in the context in which the word appears, as well as the possible derivation experienced by this term. Finally, in the third question we deal with a Qurʼānic expression (2,223: nisāʼukum ḥarṯun lakum, “your women are a ploughed field for you”) for which we propose an interpretation within its linguistic-cultural framework.