Translating the Qur’an into Romance: Two 16th-Century Morisco Renditions

Author: 
Nuria Martínez de Castilla Muñoz, CCHS-CSIC, Madrid

Two copies of Morisco translations of the Qur’an copied in Salonica are currently known. They are presently kept in libraries in Paris and Florence. The aim of this paper is to examine these two codices from two angles: 1) From a philological and textual point of view: The Florence manuscript can at least be matched with two other copies transcribed in the Iberian Peninsula. As for the Paris manuscript, it cannot be related to any other Aljamiado translation. I shall try to establish lines of textual transmission of the Islamic holy text translation, both from a textual and linguistic standpoint, between Aragon and Salonica. 2) In the context of Islamic-Sephardic relations: Sephardic translations of the Bible convey a much more “verbatim” text than their Judaeo-Arabic counterparts. This is also the case with the Qur’anic translation into Romance languages made in Salonica (the Paris manuscript). The paper will address the relationship with the neighbouring Sephardic community from a methodological and linguistic standpoint as well as explore possible pedagogical and proselytizing functions in that environment.