Ricerc@Sapienza

The JADI project has a high innovative potential since it intends to create an interactive virtual platform with a high capacity to adapt to research developments. Indeed, a digital edition created with EVT allows for further data and references to be easily added (e.g., by including text translation(s) or connecting other projects developed within the same literary framework).
Digital editions of JA texts are not so widespread, however, given JA's significant literary-historical heritage, we believe it is critical to foster relevant studies and to propose new strategies for spreading resources (both textual and linguistic), including through the use of modern technologies.

With respect to studies on JA translations or taf¿s¿r (commentaries) on the SoS, they have been relatively underdeveloped. In [20] Alexander highlights the popularity of the SoS, noticeable in the number of languages in which it has been translated; nevertheless, with regard to the JA versions, the origin of these translations is still deeply uncertain, and it remains a matter of discussion and disagreement. According to the Yemenite tradition, the authorship of the JA translation and commentary that we found in ms.5491 is attested to Saadiah Gaon (882-942). Nevertheless, in the light of the studies carried out so far, this attribution seems to be erroneous. For all we know, Saadiah translated into Arabic all Bible books; likewise, we know with certainty that he prepared both an Arabic translation and a commentary of the SoS. Nonetheless, only a part of his works is known to date, and the various ascriptions to Saadiah do not seem to be fully convincing - just like it is doubtful whether the commentaries on the SoS that have been preserved under the name of Saadiah are genuine or re-workings of an original Saadian text.

In order to shed light on this entangled textual tradition, we strongly need further comparative studies. We know that Merx provided an edition [21] of the text based on another Yemenite manuscript [22] which seems to be comparable to the text found in ms.5491, both lexically and syntactically. However, it is difficult to fully reconstruct the text, since the Merx edition does not include a faithful transcription of the JA text and instead shows it only transliterated into Arabic characters; the same approach can be found in other editions within JA literature, and it is still very widespread most likely to make those texts more accessible. As a matter of fact, given that the orthography, more than semantics (especially when analyzing biblical translations), is the most relevant mark of JA texts, spelling variations and inconsistencies could be, instead, a crucial indication for dating and determining origin or different literary traditions.

In light of this, and in view of the necessity for an effective standard, we would rather suggest a stratified model for JA text edition. This model is made of one mandatory (Level 1) and n optional levels:

Level 1. Digitization of the original manuscript text
Level 2. One-to-one conversion of the word letters (Hebrew to Arabic)
Level 3. Arabization (Normalization to Classical Arabic)
Level 4. Others (e.g., transcription in IPA, gloss, and so forth)

In the JADI project, we will follow this approach, and we will make available all the aforementioned levels for ms.5491, thanks to the publication of: the original text (exact digitization) alongside the manuscript image, a transcription of the text in Arabic script (both one-to-one, and normalized to Classical Arabic), and data related to foreign occurrences and quotations. In this respect, it is noted that the digital edition has the advantage of allowing for the enrichment of data (within Level 4, according to our model) with an infinitude of additional details (translations, links to other editions in a comparative perspective, and so forth).

We believe that the release of an unpublished resource using a combination of traditional and modern approaches - the latter of which is undoubtedly underdeveloped in the field of JA sacred texts translations - would be a significant contribution to the field of JA, but also of Biblical and Parabiblical studies.

Furthermore, the creation of a dedicated website it results ideal to give more visibility to the resource and promote national and international debate in the hopes of fostering new collaborations among scholars interested in this field (see, e.g., the Biblia Arabica project - already mentioned).

References

[20] Alexander, "Notes on Some Targums of the Targum of the Song of Songs" in Targum and Scripture: Studies in Aramaic Translations and Interpretation in Memory of Ernest Clarke, Flesher (ed.), Leiden: Brill, 159-74, 2002.
[21] Merx (ed.), Die Saadjanische Uebersetzung Des Hohen Liedes Ins Arabische. Heidelberg: Winter, 1882.
[22] British Library, London, BL, Or, 1476 (cat. 150)