al-ʻAwāmil allatī Sāʻadat ʻalá Taṭawwur al-Tarjamah fī ʻUmān (1804-1856 M.) - Shuʻaylī, Muḥammad ibn Ḥamad; al-Muʼtamar al-Duwalī al-Sābiʻ bi-Mālīziyā: Tarjamat al-Turāth al-ʻUmānī: al-Ruʼá wa-al-Āfāq (2022) (Kuwālā Lumbūr) (Kuwālā Lumbūr : Markaz Dhākirat ʻUmān, 2022)
Translation in modern Oman took clearer shape during the reign of Sayyid Saʿīd ibn Sulṭān (1804–1856), driven by a set of converging factors. Foremost among them were the expansion of the Omani state and its geographic reach, the twin centres of the Omani empire at Muscat and Zanzibar, the strength of the Omani economy in that period, and the marked growth of Omani naval power and its fleet. Together these developments widened Oman's foreign relations with regional and world powers and multiplied the treaties concluded with them, so that the ruler required trusted interpreters able to deal with those parties, to convey his positions faithfully, and to render treaties and official documents. The ethnic plurality of Zanzibari society added a further and more everyday demand for translation between communities. Using descriptive and historical methods and a range of sources, the paper traces these factors and their direct and indirect effects, arguing that the first roots of translation at the court of Oman's modern rulers begin with Sayyid Saʿīd.
Permanent citation identifier: MHF-2022-013.
Conference theme (in Arabic): ترجمة التراث؛ الضوابط والإشكالات، وتقويم حركة الترجمة في عُمان.
Text in Arabic; title also romanized (ALA-LC); abstract and keywords in English.
Keywords: Translation history; Oman; Saʿīd ibn Sulṭān; Zanzibar; Omani empire; Diplomatic translation