The first English translation appeared in 1706 and was made from Galland's version; being anonymous, it is known as the Grub Street edition. There are two extant copies, one kept in the Bodleian Library and one in Princeton University Library.[3] After this, several English reissues appeared simultaneously in 1708. As early as the end of the 18th century the English translation based on Galland was brought to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Montreal, Philadelphia, New York and Sydney.[3] Generally, translations starting from Galland were censored due to lewd content.[4]
Meanwhile, the original scattered Arabic texts were collected and printed in four corpuses:
the Calcutta I or Shirwanee Edition (1814–18, 2 volumes)
the Bulaq or Cairo Edition (1835, 2 volumes)
the Breslau Edition (1825–38, 8 volumes)
the Calcutta II or W.H. Macnaghten Edition (1839–42, 4 volumes)
Galland based his translation on what is now known as the Galland Manuscript, a three-volume (or perhaps once four-volume) manuscript from the fourteenth or fifteenth century now kept in the National Library of France.[5] He published his translation in a twelve-volume set between 1704 and 1717.[6] Galland's translation altered the style, tone and content of the Arabic text. Designed to appeal, it omitted sophisticated or dark elements while enhancing exotic and magical elements and became the basis of most children's versions of One Thousand and One Nights.[7]
Mardrus
In 1926–1932 a lavishly decorated 12-volume edition of J. C. Mardrus' translation, titled Le livre des mille nuits et une nuit, appeared. Soviet and Russian scholar Isaak Filshtinsky, however, considered Mardrus' translation inferior to others due to presence of chunks of text, which Mardrus conceived himself to satisfy the tastes of his time.[8] According to Robert Irwin, "Mardrus took elements which were there in the original Arabic and worked them up, exaggerating and inventing, reshaping the Nights in such a manner that the stories appear at times to have been written by Oscar Wilde or Stéphane Mallarmé".[9] In response to criticism of his translation by academic Arabists, Mardrus promised to produce a tome of learned commentary and justificatory pieces which he, however, failed to do.[10]
Russian translations
The first Russian translation of One Thousand and One Nights, in Russian: Тысяча и одна ночь (Týsjača i odná nočʹ), was made by Alexey Filatyev in 1763–1774.[8] It was based on Galland's translation and consisted of 12 volumes.[8] Later Russian translations were also based on European translations. For instance, a three-volume translation by Yulia Doppelmayr (1889–1890) was based on Galland, the six-volume translation by Lyudmila Shelgunova (1894) was based on that by Edward William Lane and an anonymous translation (1902–1903) was based on Mardrus.
The first Russian translation directly from the Arabic source (from Calcutta II) was made by Mikhail Salye,[8] published in eight volumes by Academia in 1929–1939. Salye also translated seven tales not contained in Calcutta II (from the manuscript in the National Library of Russia).
English translations
Departing from the Grub Street version, Jonathan Scott made the first literal translation of Galland. This rendition, entitled The Arabian Nights Entertainments, appeared in 1811.
Henry Torrens would later translate the first 50 nights from Calcutta II, published in 1838. Having heard that Edward William Lane had begun his own translation, Torrens abandoned his work.[11] Lane translated from the Bulaq corpus.[11] In his opinion, "Galland [had] excessively perverted the work".[12] According to Lane, Galland's "acquaintance with Arab manners and customs was insufficient to preserve him always from errors of the grossest description".[12] Working with the Bulaq corpus, Lane occasionally crosschecked against the Calcutta I and Breslau corpuses.[13] His translation, however, was incomplete.[13] In 1923 a translation by Edward Powys Mathers based on the French translation by J. C. Mardrus appeared.
Another attempt at translation was made by John Payne (The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, 1882–84). Payne printed only 500 copies, for private distribution, and ceded the work to Richard Francis Burton. Burton's translation (The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night 1885–88) enjoyed huge public success but was criticised for its use of archaic language and excessive erotic detail.[14] According to Ulrich Marzolph, as of 2004, Burton's translation remained the most complete version of One Thousand and One Nights in English.[14] It is generally considered one of the finest unexpurgated translations from Calcutta II.[15] It stood as the only complete translation of the Macnaghten or Calcutta II edition (Egyptian recension) until the Malcolm C. and Ursula Lyons translation published in 2008.[16]
The first English translation solely by a female author was published by Yasmine Seale in November 2021. It includes all the tales from Hanna Diyab, as well as previously omitted stories featuring female protagonists (such as tales about Parizade, Pari Banu, and the horror story Sidi Numan.[17])
Malcolm C. Lyons and Ursula Lyons - The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights published by Penguin Books based on the Macnaghten or Calcutta II edition (Egyptian recension) in 10 volumes (2008)
The Arabian Nights: the Husain Haddawy Translation Based on the Text Edited by Muhsin Mahdi, Contexts, Criticism, ed. by Daniel Heller-Roazen (New York: Norton, 2010).
In 1825 a Galland-based translation was made by Maximilian Habicht. Duncan Black MacDonald later proved that the Tunisian manuscript Habicht claimed to use during the translation was in fact forged by Habicht.[18] In 1839–1842 One Thousand and One Nights was translated into German by Gustav Weil. From 1895 to 1897, Max Henning published another German translation in 24 small volumes; the first seven volumes were based on the Bulaq edition, while volumes 18–24 were largely translated from Richard Francis Burton. In 1912–13 another translation was made by Felix Paul Greve.
In 1921–1928, Enno Littmann produced a six-volume German translation of the whole One Thousand and One Nights based on Calcutta II. This included the poetry contained in the text. He translated one lewd portion into Latin rather than German. Nonetheless, Isaak Filshtinsky considered Littmann's translation to be "the most complete and accomplished".[8]Robert Irwin pronounced it "the best German translation".[19]
There have been several Dutch translations made from the French editions of Galland and Mardrus.[21] In 1999 the final volume of "De vertellingen van duizend-en-één nacht" was published; the first and so far only Dutch translation from the Arabic texts, by Dr. Richard van Leeuwen. For his translation, van Leeuwen used the Bulaq (Cairo 1835), Calcutta (1842) and Mahdi (Leiden 1984) editions.[22]
Italian translation
In 1949 Arabist Francesco Gabrieli, who headed a team of anonymous translators, produced a four-volume Italian translation, based on Bulaq collated with Calcutta II.
Spanish translations
The stories about Sinbad the Sailor had already been translated into Spanish by 1253.[23] Later Spanish translations were made particularly by Pedro Pedraza (from Galland); Vicente Blasco Ibáñez (from Mardrus) and Eugenio Sanz del Valle, Luis Aguirre Prado and Alfredo Domínguez (from Mardrus). More accurate translations were made by Rafael Cansinos Asséns and the Arabists Juan Vernet, Juan A.G. Larraya and Leonor Martínez Martín or Salvador Peña.
Japanese translations
One Thousand and One Nights appeared in Japanese in as early as 1875 – the two-volume translation, made by Hideki Nagamine (永峰秀樹), was titled Arabiya monogatari: Kaikan kyōki (暴夜物語: 開巻驚奇) and published in Tokyo by Nihon Hyōronsha (日本評論社). In the preface, Nagamine wrote that he used G. F. Townsend's The Arabian Nights's Entertainments, which was based on Jonathan Scott's English translation of Galland. Nagamine also used Edward William Lane's English translation as a supplement. The second Japanese translation by Inoue Tsutomu, titled Zensekai ichidai kisho (The Most Curious Book in the Whole World), appeared in 1883 and became more popular than Nagamine's.[24]
Subsequently, other Japanese translations were made, but the first complete Japanese translation from Arabic was published in 1976–92 by Shinji Maejima and Ikeda Osamu, in nineteen volumes (titled Arabian Naito).
Chinese translations
A selection of stories from One Thousand and One Nights, titled Yi Qian Ling Yi Ye（一千零一夜） appeared in 1900.[25] In 1906 a four-volume translation was made by Xi Ruo（奚若, published in Shanghai.
In the 1930 new translations, primarily from Bulaq, appeared, also under the title Yi Qian Ling Yi Ye.[25] In that period a five-volume translation by Na Xun（纳训） was made. In the 1950s Na Xun produced another three-volume translation, again titled Yi Qian Ling Yi Ye.
In 1982 a six-volume Beijing edition of Na Xun was published. It became the source of the 1980s two-volume translation titled Tian Fang Ye Tan（天方夜譚）, which appeared in Taipei.[25]
Hebrew translations
From 1947 to 1971 Arabist Yosef Yoel Rivlin produced a 32-volume Hebrew translation, based mainly on Bulaq. A selection of stories, translated by Hanna Amit-Kohavi, appeared in two volumes, in the years 2008 and 2011, under the title Leylot Arav.
Kashmiri translations
Aalif Laila, a translation of the stories in Kashmiri was made by Mohiuddin Hajni in 1969. It was published by the Sahitya Akademi - the Indian national academy of letters.[26]
Catalan translations
A complete translation into Catalan, by Arabists Margarida Castells i Criballés|Margarida Castells and Dolors Cinca Pinós|Dolors Cinca, was published in 1999: Les mil i una nits (Barcelona: Edicions Proa, ISBN978-84-8256-180-6 / ISBN84-8256-180-4), in three volumes. It is based on the Bulaq edition, includes the apocryphal tales from Galland as an appendix and has been the base for several published anthologies.
Bosnian translations
In the year 1999 4-volume of Bosnian translation was published. The Bulaq version was translated by Esad Durakovic during the siege of Sarajevo.
Telugu translations
Veyyinnokka Ratrulu (2003), a translation of the stories in Telugu was published by the Sahitya Akademi - the Indian national academy of letters. The translation work was done by writer Ghandikota Brahmaji Rao.[27]
Malayalam translations
Ayirathonnu Raavukal (2011), a single volume translation of the Nights was published by Mathrubhumi Books in Malayalam with Indian literary critic M. Achuthan serving as its editor.[28] Another translation into Malayalam, Ayirathonnu Rathrikal by M. P. Sadasivan, was published by DC Books in 2008.[29]
In 2019 a three-volume Slovenian translation was published. Based on the Calcutta II version, it was translated by Mohsen and Margit Alhady.[30]
Related Research Articles
One Thousand and One Nights is a collection of Middle Eastern folktales compiled in the Arabic language during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as the Arabian Nights, from the first English-language edition, which rendered the title as The Arabian Nights' Entertainment.
Aladdin is a Middle-Eastern folk tale. It is one of the best-known tales associated with The Book of One Thousand and One Nights, despite not being part of the original text; it was added by the Frenchman Antoine Galland, based on a folk tale that he heard from the Syrian Maronite storyteller Hanna Diyab.
Jacques Cazotte was a French author and a monarchist. He predicted the Reign of Terror and was guillotined shortly after.
Scheherazade is a major character and the storyteller in the frame narrative of the Middle Eastern collection of tales known as the One Thousand and One Nights.
Arabic epic literature encompasses epic poetry and epic fantasy in Arabic literature. Virtually all societies have developed folk tales encompassing tales of heroes. Although many of these are legends, many are based on real events and historical figures.
Antoine Galland was a French orientalist and archaeologist, most famous as the first European translator of One Thousand and One Nights, which he called Les mille et une nuits. His version of the tales appeared in twelve volumes between 1704 and 1717 and exerted a significant influence on subsequent European literature and attitudes to the Islamic world. Jorge Luis Borges has suggested that Romanticism began when his translation was first read.
The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night (1888), subtitled A Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights Entertainments, is the only complete English language translation of One Thousand and One Nights to date – a collection of Middle Eastern and South Asian stories and folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age – by the British explorer and Arabist Richard Francis Burton (1821–1890). It stands as the only complete translation of the Macnaghten or Calcutta II edition of the "Arabian Nights".
The Arabic–English Lexicon is an Arabic–English dictionary compiled by Edward William Lane, available online at https://www.laneslexicon.com. It was published in eight volumes during the second half of the 19th century. It consists of Arabic words defined and explained in the English language. But Lane does not use his own knowledge of Arabic to give definitions to the words. Instead, the definitions are taken from older Arabic dictionaries, primarily medieval Arabic dictionaries. Lane translates these definitions into English, and he carefully notes which dictionaries are giving which definitions.
The Three Apples, or The Tale of the Murdered Woman, is a story contained in the One Thousand and One Nights collection. It is a first-level story, being told by Scheherazade herself, and contains one second-level story, the Tale of Núr al-Dín Alí and his Son. It occurs early in the Arabian Nights narrative, being started during night 19, after the Tale of the Portress. The Tale of Núr al-Dín Alí and his Son starts during night 20, and the cycle ends during night 25, when Scheherazade starts the Tale of the Hunchback.
One Thousand and One Nights, or Arabian Nights, is a collection of Middle Eastern stories and folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age.
Les mille et une nuits, contes arabes traduits en français, published in 12 volumes between 1704 and 1717, was the first European version of The Thousand and One Nights tales.
Le livre des mille nuits et une nuit is a 12-volume French translation of One Thousand and One Nights by J. C. Mardrus. The volumes, 298×228 mm each, were published in 1926–1932 by the Paris publisher L'Edition d'Art H. Piazza. With Morocco leather covers, the book sides were decorated with a gilt-stamped panel with oriental design different for each volume. The volumes were also decorated with gilt fleurons, triple gilt fillet and blind-stamped filet on the inside, as well as red watered silk endleaves.
Antun Yusuf Hanna Diyab was a Syrian Maronite writer and storyteller. He originated the best-known versions of the tales of Aladdin and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves which have been added to the One Thousand and One Nights since French orientalist Antoine Galland translated and included them, after which they soon became popular across the West.
Dom Denis Chavis or Dīyūnisūs Shāwīsh was a Syrian priest and monk who flourished in the 1780s. He was a key contributor to the version of the Thousand and One Nights published as Continuation des Mille et Une Nuits in Geneva in 1788–89, which had a lasting influence on conceptions of the contents of the Nights.
The three-volume Galland Manuscript, sometimes also referred to as the Syrian Manuscript, is the earliest extensive manuscript of the Thousand and One Nights. Its text extends to 282 nights, breaking off in the middle of the Tale of Qamar al-Zamān and Budūr. The dating of the manuscript has been the subject of significant debate, which has revolved, unusually, around what types of coins are mentioned in the text and what real-life coin-issues they refer to. Muhsin Mahdi, the manuscript's modern editor, thought that it was fourteenth-century, while Heinz Grotzfeld dated it to the second half of the fifteenth. It is agreed to belong to the fourteenth or fifteenth century and to originate in Syria.
The Ebony Horse, The Enchanted Horse or The Magic Horse is a folk tale featured in the Arabian Nights. It features a flying mechanical horse, controlled using keys, that could fly into outer space and towards the Sun. The ebony horse can fly the distance of one year in a single day, and is used as a vehicle by the Prince of Persia, Qamar al-Aqmar, in his adventures across Persia, Arabia and Byzantium.
The Sisters who Envied Their Cadette is a fairy tale collected by French orientalist Antoine Galland and published in his translation of The Arabian Nights, a compilation of Arabic and Persian fairy tales.
Ahmed and Paribanou, or The Story of Prince Ahmed and the fairy Pari Banou, is one of the tales of the Arabian Nights compilation.
Les Mille et un jours, contes persans is a short story collection with Middle Eastern settings published between the years 1710 and 1712 by the French orientalist François Pétis de la Croix, probably with unacknowledged help from Alain-René Lesage. Though the stories were for the most part adapted very freely from a 15th-century Turkish collection called Ferec baʿde şidde, in its structure it is modelled on Antoine Galland's Les Mille et une nuits, whose immense success it was intended to share. It has had a wide influence on European culture, not least through its retelling of the story of Turandot, which indirectly inspired Puccini's opera and many other works.
Zipes, Jack (2007). When Dreams Came True: Classical Fairy Tales and Their Tradition. Taylor & Francis. ISBN978-0415980067.
Marzolph, Ulrich (2004). The Arabian Nights Encyclopedia. Vol.1. ABC-CLIO. ISBN1576072045.
Irwin, Robert (2004). The Arabian Nights: A Companion. Tauris Parke Paperbacks. ISBN1860649831.
Nishio, Tetsuo; Yamanaka, Yuriko (2006). Arabian Nights and Orientalism: Perspectives from East and West. I.B.Tauris. ISBN0857710508.
Further reading
Ross, Jack (December 19, 2008). "A New Translation of the Arabian Nights". The Imaginary Museum: Adventures in Writing, Publishing, Book Collecting & Other Pursuits.
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