Reviewing the Verb of “Daadan” in a Newly Found Composition of Compound Verbs in the Oldest Translation of Torah

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

• Fatemeh Ghaiyoomian Mohammadi
• Mohsen Mohamadi Fesharaki

University of Isfahan

10.22067/jls.v50i1.69421

Abstract

Introduction

We can provide a guidance for understanding the great cultural treasure of Persian language and literature by describing the structure of the historical grammar of Persian language, studying and analyzing the specific grammatical features of each period, and by reviewing and analyzing the available linguistic works and documents of that period. As a result, we will be able to make these texts and their meanings available to the future generations and other nations and cultures. On the other hand, in order to protect and preserve the great treasures of Persian language and literature, we have to address the history of language and discover the linguistic connections of literary texts. Those who are familiar with the correction of manuscripts understand the value of this effort because they acknowledge that in many cases the problems of reading, editing, and selecting a recording from various recordings of the alternate version will not be so difficult and impossible if a codified historical grammar for the language of the intended period exists. Perhaps, the dominance and mastery over the grammatical features of Persian language in a particular period, also studied under the title of stylistics, gives us a clue to discover the linguistic and historical connections of texts and manuscripts. Of course, the relation between historical linguistics and the correction and revival of manuscripts is a two-way relationship because the evolution of historical linguistic research also requires the revival of the old manuscripts along with their precise correction and revision.
One of the valuable manuscripts of Persian language, which is literally and grammatically significant and sometimes surprising, is Persian Translation of the Torah, which due to its many linguistic values is the source of raw materials for grammar science.
This is the oldest known Persian translation of the Torah, whose translation has been finished in Tabriz in 747 AH. This book has been translated from Arabic into Persian by Suleiman Bin Qes Yousef Ya'qoub Mayafareqani. Its only available copy is kept in the library of the Islamic Consultative Assembly with the number 5187 (see the library website of the Islamic Consultative Assembly). The vocabulary of this translation reminds us of some of the linguistic characteristics of the Gospel of Diatessaron, however, compared to the text of Diatessaron, the syntax of sentences is not very fluent and sometimes in his translation the translator has been influenced by the source language more than what is expected. The rare vocabularies which have sometimes been omitted from dictionaries, new vocabulary structures, vocal features, significant structures of Persian verbs including compound, prominent and simple verbs which have also been discussed in this article, the use of signs, images, and the signs of punctuation are all the characteristics of this ancient translation of  Torah, which can be examined in the field of historical linguistics and syntax.

Methodology

In this paper, the author attempts to investigate and explain one of the syntactic features of this old valuable text in view of today’s Persian language using the available concepts and tools in the syntax science. The author calls this feature the combination of an infinite with the verb of "daadan", in order to make a compound verb while referring to the meaning of the verb through the explanation of the structure.

Discussion

This essay describes the application of the infinitive + light verb as one of the syntactic features of this manuscript. Today, the verbatim and exact equivalent of this structure is not used in Persian language; thus, if we want to write an equivalence in Persian for the sentences in which this structure was used, the equivalent sentences will sit in the structure and syntax of "the dependent compound sentences with the subordinate clause". Hence, in this article, first, the features of dependent compound sentences with the subordinate clause have been reviewed.
The format of this set of compound sentences is so genuine and dynamic that involves multiple semantic constructions. Semantic construction means a framework of dependent compound sentences on which the verb of the base clause is common in all while originating from a single root. One of the most commonly used semantic constructions in this structure, which is specifically focused on in this article, is the use of the verb "daadan" as the verb or the act has been inserted in the base clause. In this structure, the subordinate clause, which is always expressed in a subjunctive mood, can accept within itself all transitive verbs. The verb "daadan" in this framework is beyond its major meaning (i.e., the opposite of "take"), as it has the meaning of "command and request." Therefore, if we want to give a special title to this construct, which is always made by the verb "daadan", the title "the semantic construction of command and request" may be more appropriate. In this article, after studying and describing this semantic construction, the syntax and the structure of its equivalents in ancient Persian and then, specifically, in the ancient translation of Torah are described.
The semantic construction of "command and request" or "constraint and coercion" in the ancient translation of Torah mostly comes in the form of a simple sentence. The verb "daadan" which nowadays has the role of the verb of the base clause in the semantic construction of command and request makes a compound verb in the ancient translation of Torah in combination with the verb of the subordinate clause. In this way, the verb "daadan" as a light verb sits beside the infinitive and conveys the meaning of commanding, causing, and forcing. In general, whenever the verb "daadan" in dependent compound sentences is as a base clause with the subordinate clause, it conveys the concept of command and request which is beyond its well-known meaning and is applicable in today’s Persian as well.

Conclusion

The semantic construction of command and request, which is now made in the form of the dependent compound sentences with the subordinate clause and with the use of the verb "daadan" as the verb of the base clause, has been expressed in the ancient translation of Torah in a new form. In this translation, the light verb of "daadan" in combination with a transitive or intransitive infinite has made a compound verb, which expresses the meaning of command and request with a concept of constraint and compulsion. The verb "daadan" in this combination means "commanding, causing or forcing", and the infinitive used as a helping verb prior to "daadan" is the grammatical predecessor of the subjective present that is lately used for the construction of a subordinate clause. Today, to construct the semantic equivalents of the translated sentences of Torah, compound dependent sentences with the subordinate clause are used, but the suitable verb of the base clause is changed according to the sentence. In other words, it changes into one of the three verbs of command, force, and cause which are the three forgotten meanings of  the verb "daadan".

Keywords

• light verb
• daadan
• compound verb
• historical grammar of Persian language
• ancient translation of the Torah

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