Kalila Wa Dimna — Page 18

Arabic text · النص

Line-by-line translation · المعاني

وَبَعْدَ هَذَا خَمْسَةُ أَبْيَاتٍ فِي وَصْفِ الْكِتَابِ.

Following this are five verses describing the book.

وَبَعْدَهَا «وَحَسْبُنَا اللَّهُ وَنِعْمَ الْوَكِيلُ» فِي سَطْرٍ، وَفِي سَطْرٍ آخَرَ: «كَعْمَعَق زَهْزُوق»، وَفِي سَطْرٍ آخَرَ: «الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ وَحْدَهُ آه آه آه.»

Next is "Allah is sufficient for us, and He is the best Disposer of affairs" on one line, followed on another by "Ka'ma'aq Zahzuq," and on a third by "Praise be to Allah alone, ah ah ah."

وَبَعْدَ هَذَا سَطْرَانِ فِيهِمَا اسْمُ بَعْضِ مَنْ مَلَكُوا النُّسْخَةَ، ثُمَّ الْبَيْتَانِ: لَئِنْ نَالَ غَيْرِي وَهُوَ دُونِي وِصَالَهَا وَأَصْبَحَ ذِكْرِي عِنْدَهَا غَيْرَ نَافِقِ، فَكَمْ بَيْدَقٍ لِلشَّاهِ أَصْبَحَ قَاهِرًا وَلَا زَالَ قَدْرُ الشَّاهِ فَوْقَ الْبَيَادِقِ.

Below this are two lines listing some of the copy's previous owners, followed by these two verses: If another attains her union while he is beneath me, and my mention before her loses its value, how many a pawn has conquered the king, yet the king’s rank remains above the pawns.

وَالظَّاهِرُ مِنْ صَفْحَتَيِ الْعُنْوَانِ وَالْخَاتِمَةِ أَنَّ صَاحِبَ النُّسْخَةِ اسْمُهُ مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ الْحِجَافِيِّ، وَأَنَّ كَاتِبَهَا اسْمُهُ عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ مُحَمَّدٍ الْعُمَرِيُّ، وَأَنَّ الْكَاتِبَ مِنْ عَامَّةِ النُّسَّاخِ الَّذِي لَا يُجِيدُ النَّحْوَ وَلَا رَسْمَ الْحُرُوفِ، فَقَدْ كَتَبَ: «كَلِيلَة وَدِمْنَة» بِالصَّرْفِ، وَكَتَبَ: «جُمَادَى الْآخِرِ مِنْ شُهُورِ سَنَةِ ثَمَانِيَةَ عَشَرَ وَسِتِّمِائَةٍ»، وَالصَّوَابُ: جُمَادَى الْآخِرَةِ مِنْ شُهُورِ سَنَةِ ثَمَانِي عَشْرَةَ وَسِتِّمِائَةٍ، وَكَتَبَ فِي أَبْيَاتٍ فِي الصَّفْحَةِ الْأَخِيرَةِ: «أَلْسِنَت فَصِيحَة» بِتَاءٍ مَفْتُوحَةٍ بَدَلَ: «أَلْسِنَة».

The title and final pages indicate that the owner of this copy was Muhammad ibn al-Hijafi and the scribe was Abdullah ibn Muhammad al-Umari. The scribe appears to be an amateur who lacked mastery of grammar and orthography; he wrote "Kalila wa Dimna" with tanwin, and wrote "Jumada al-Akhir of the months of the year six hundred and eighteen" instead of the correct "Jumada al-Akhira of the months of the year six hundred and eighteen." Furthermore, in the verses on the last page, he wrote "alsinat fasiha" with an open ta instead of "alsina."

وَلِهَذَا وَقَعَ فِي النُّسْخَةِ تَحْرِيفٌ شَنِيعٌ، وَسَقَطَ فِي جُمَلٍ وَكَلِمَاتٍ وَحُرُوفٍ، وَرُسِمَتْ بَعْضُ الْكَلِمَاتِ وَأُعْجِمَتْ عَلَى صُورَةٍ عَجِيبَةٍ لَا تُوَافِقُ حُرُوفَ الْعَرَبِيَّةِ، حَتَّى ظَنَنْتُ أَنَّ الْكَاتِبَ لَا يُحْسِنُ قِرَاءَةَ الْكِتَابِ وَكَانَ يَرْسُمُ الْحُرُوفَ كَمَا يَرَاهَا فَيُخْطِئُ فِي كَثِيرٍ مِنْهَا، وَبَيَّنَ أَنَّ نَصِيبَ الْكَلِمَاتِ الْغَرِيبَةِ مِنْ هَذَا التَّحْرِيفِ أَوْفَرُ، وَبَعْضُ التَّحْرِيفِ لَا يُفَسَّرُ إِلَّا بِأَنَّ الْكَاتِبَ كَانَ يَسْتَمْلِي فَيُسِيءُ السَّمْعَ أَوْ يُخْطِئُ الرَّسْمَ.

Consequently, the copy is riddled with egregious errors, including missing sentences, words, and letters. Some words are written and pointed in a bizarre manner inconsistent with Arabic script, leading me to believe the scribe could not even read the text properly and simply copied the shapes of the letters, often incorrectly. Rare words are particularly prone to this distortion, and some errors can only be explained by the scribe mishearing or miswriting while taking dictation.

وَهَذِهِ أَمْثِلَةٌ مِنَ التَّحْرِيفِ، وَقَدْ وَضَعْتُ تَصْوِيبَهَا بَيْنَ هَاتَيْنِ الْعَلَامَتَيْنِ [] «ثُمَّ إِنَّ شَتْرَبَة لَمْ يَلْبَثْ أَنْ عكَن وَشَحَن وَسَر [... أَنْ عكد وَشَحَم وَتَر]».

These are examples of such distortions, with my corrections placed between brackets: "Then Shatraba did not delay in 'akan and shahan and sar [... in 'akad and shaham and tar]."

كَانَ أَسَدَّ الْبَصِيرَةِ، وَأَبْلَجَ الصَّدْرِ، وَأَحْرَى أَنْ يُقَدِّمَ الْمَزِيدَةَ عَلَى غَيْرِهِ الشُّبْهَةَ وَالشَّكَّ كَانَ أَسَدَّ لِلْبَصِيرَةِ وَأَثْلَجَ لِلصَّدْرِ، وَأَحْرَى أَنْ يُقَدِّمَ الْمَرْءُ بِهِ عَلَى غَيْرِهِ.

He was more sound of insight, more open of heart, and more worthy to be preferred over others; doubt and suspicion were more sound for the insight and more soothing for the heart, and more worthy for a person to rely upon than anything else.

Vocabulary · المفردات (22 verbs · 64 nouns)

• مَلَكَ — to own
• نَالَ — to obtain
• أَصْبَحَ — to become
• زَالَ — to cease
• أَجَادَ — to master
• كَتَبَ — to write
• وَقَعَ — to occur
• سَقَطَ — to fall
• رَسَمَ — to draw
• أَعْجَمَ — to dot
• وَافَقَ — to agree
• ظَنَّ — to think
• حَسُنَ — to excel
• رَأَى — to see
• أَخْطَأَ — to err
• بَيَّنَ — to clarify
• فَسَّرَ — to explain
• اسْتَمْلَى — to dictate
• أَسَاءَ — to do evil
• وَضَعَ — to place
• لَبِثَ — to linger
• قَدَّمَ — to present
• بَيْت — verse
• وَصْف — description
• كِتَاب — book
• حَسْب — sufficiency
• وَكِيل — guardian
• سَطْر — line
• حَمْد — praise
• وَحْد — oneness
• اسْم — name
• بَعْض — some
• نُسْخَة — copy
• وِصَال — union
• ذِكْر — mention
• نَافِق — unsaleable
• بَيْدَق — pawn
• شَاه — king
• قَاهِر — victorious
• قَدْر — status
• ظَاهِر — apparent
• صَفْحَة — page
• عُنْوَان — title
• خَاتِمَة — conclusion
• صَاحِب — owner
• كَاتِب — writer
• عَامَّة — common people
• نَسَّاخ — copyist
• نَحْو — grammar
• رَسْم — drawing
• حَرْف — letter
• صَرْف — morphology
• شَهْر — month
• سَنَة — year
• صَوَاب — correctness
• لِسَان — language
• فَصِيح — eloquent
• تَاء — ta letter
• مَفْتُوح — open
• بَدَل — instead
• تَحْرِيف — distortion
• شَنِيع — hideous
• جُمْلَة — sentence
• كَلِمَة — word
• صُورَة — image
• عَجِيب — strange
• عَرَبِيَّة — Arabic
• قِرَاءَة — reading
• كَثِير — many
• نَصِيب — share
• غَرِيب — strange
• أَوْفَر — more abundant
• سَمْع — hearing
• مِثَال — examples
• تَصْوِيب — correction
• عَلَامَة — sign
• بَصِيرَة — insight
• أَبْلَج — bright
• صَدْر — chest
• حَرِيّ — more appropriate
• مَزِيد — additional
• شُبْهَة — doubt
• شَكّ — suspicion
• أَثْلَج — more cooling
• مَرْء — person
• أَخِيرَة — last