Translation

Studies

Harry Botter
Dia Abdullah Sulaibi
(75-86)

Vo no. 21-22
Winter and spring
2014

Harry Botter
Translating Names from English into Arabic in
Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone
Dia Abdullah Sulaibi
Department of Translation
College of Arts
Al-Mustansiriya University
E-mail: dia_sulaibi@yahoo.com

Introduction
Books get translated from their
source language into other languages
This paper discusses the translation of all the time. Some books get so
names in Harry Potter and the Philosophers popular and phenomenal that they get
translated into many languages. These
Stone, a childrens fantasy novel, and the first books are so good, so loved and so
of seven novels that, together comprise the influential that many people in many
Harry Potter book series. The paper is to languages would love to read in their
own languages. Like the novels of
highlight the importance of names in Charles Dickens, Jules Verne, Paulo
translating this particular text and in the Coehlo, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and
literary genre of fantasy in general. First, it J. R. R. Tolkien. Or even the fairy
tales of Hans Christian Anderson and
defines what it is meant by a name and the Brothers Grimm as well as comic
attempts to present some of the most books like The Adventures of Tintin,
important types of meanings usually The Adventures of Asterix.
J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter1
conveyed by names in literature and in fantasy books were translated into 72
literary works, of course, with a focus on the languages, according to The
Bloomsbury
Publishing
website
first book in the Harry Potter series.
(2010). This makes the Harry Potter
Keywords: fantasy,
fantasy, Harry Potter,
Potter,
series of books among the most
naves, onomastics, translation, .
translated works of literature into
other languages, thus rivaling
Sherlock Holmes, Gone with the
Wind, and The Da Vinci Code.
Arabic is one of the languages into which the Harry Potter books were translated.

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Translation
Studies

Harry Botter
Dia Abdullah Sulaibi
(75-86)

Vo no. 21-22
Winter and spring
2014

Arabs are no stranger to stories of fantasy that include magic, supernatural creatures
and unnatural beasts. The One thousand and One Nights, also known as The Arabian
Nights, has some of the oldest fantasy stories, Such as Aladdin and the Magic Lamp, Ali
Baba and the Cave of Wonders and The Seven Voyages of Sinbad.
The first book in the series: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone came out in the
United Kingdom in 1997 (Rowling, 1997), but it was not translated into Arabic until
2002 (Rowling, 2008). The translation was by an Egyptian Publishing house called
Nahdet Misr
. The same thing happened to the second, third, fourth, and fifth
books, it took them years to get them translated. So the translations came out between
2004 and 2007. Only the last two books in the series were translated and published in the
same year the original books were published; Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
(2005) and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2007).
The Nahdet Misr Arabic version of Harry Potter is the only official version that there
is in Arabic, thus it is the only way an Arab reader, who does not speak or read English,
may encounter the English books. The Arabic versions of each of the seven books suffer
from many problems, as it is expected due to the fact that the translation of the Harry
Potter books were not less problematic when rendered into other languages. This paper
will consider only one of these problems, namely the translation of names and analyze it.
The paper's scope of research will include only the first book in the series: Harry Potter
and the Philosophers Stone which was translated into Arabic by Sahar Jabr Mahmoud.
The current paper proposes that the translation of names in fiction is not as easy to
translate as one may think: a name may not just simply be transferred from one language
into another without alteration. This is because of the nature that names play in fiction,
and this even gets more complicated when it comes to fiction that belongs to the fantasy
genre due to the fact that names in the fantasy genre of fiction have a bigger role to play
in the work of fiction. Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone is, as will be shown later
on, an excellent case study in this regard. This will be discussed elaborately in the below
sections of the paper.
In this paper, the general term Name is used to refer to the word or words that are
used to refer to something in the outside world. This wide term was purposefully used
here instead of the narrower terms: Proper Noun or Proper Name (the name of a person, a
place or institution), Common Noun (the name of an object or a thing), and Abstract
Noun (the name of an idea or a quality that is not a physical object). Although in the case
of Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone (and almost all works of fiction the belong
to the fantasy genre), the outside world is not the outside world per se; as it is a work of
fiction, and a fantasy fiction, for that matter. This, also, will be explained further in the
following sections.
Harry Potter is a very rich subject for study. Almost everything about this very
popular series of novels has been studied over and over again. Tens of papers were
written on Harry Potter from literary, linguistic, educational, political, historical,
anthropological, philosophical, psychological and even theological viewpoints. The
translation of Harry Potter into dozens of languages around the world have also ignited
A quartly Refereed Journal Issued by the Department of Translation Studies BaytulBaytul-HikmaHikma- Baghdad
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Translation
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Harry Botter
Dia Abdullah Sulaibi
(75-86)

Vo no. 21-22
Winter and spring
2014

the publishing of many academic papers focusing on the different aspects of the novels
and how they were translated into other languages. In this paper, the researcher adds one
more paper to the corpus of papers dealing with the translation of the literary
phenomenon. But translating the names in Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone into
Arabic has never been dealt with till now, which gives the current paper some privilege.

1. Studying names
There is a science that studies names and it is known as Onomastics (Greek
onomastikos from onoma name) (Crystal, 1997: 112), usually divided into the study of
personal names (Anthroponomastics from Greek anthropos human being) and place
names (Toponomastics from Greek topos place). In more popular usage, the term
Onomastics is used to refer to personal names and Toponomastics for place names. The
division is ultimately an arbitrary one, as Fernandes (2006, 45) suggests, as places can be
named after people, just like in the case of the city of Lincoln in Nebraska, USA which
was named after Abraham Lincoln, the 16th American President, and Prince Albert, the
Canadian city that was named thus after Prince Albert, Queen Victorias husband. The
same thing can happen the other way round; i.e. people can be named after places, for
example Paris and Dakota are used as first names for females, while Orlando is used to
name males. It is true that most name studies fall under one of these two major headings,
but that does not mean that they are limited by them.
Onomastics is the study of names. Names of all kinds
Names of people (e.g. first names, middle names, surnames, nicknames), names of
places (e.g. countries, districts, cities, towns, villages), names of landscape features (e.g.
seas, rivers, streams, lakes, mountains, hills, valleys, forests, woods, moors, marshes),
names of buildings (e.g. houses, churches, pubs, schools, airports, hotels, railway
stations), names of routeways (e.g. roads, streets, paths, tracks, bridges, fords, canals,
shipping routes), names of animals (e.g. pets, greyhounds, racehorses, cows), names of
ethnic and social groups (e.g. nations, tribes, political parties, clubs, sports teams), names
of events (e.g. competitions, fairs, races), names of astronomical features (e.g. planets,
stars), names of vehicles (e.g. aircrafts, locomotives, ships), names of commercial
products (e.g. chocolates, lipsticks, wines), names of creative works (e.g. books, films,
plays, poems), names in fiction as well as in the real world.
(Hough, 2013)
The sheer fact that an academic study of names exists, magnifies the important role
that naming, as a phenomenon, plays in the world. To name something, as Algeo and
Algeo (2000, 265) propose, is to make it. The unnamed is the unnoticed, and the
unnoticed is for cognitive and communicative purposes nonexistent. Algeo and Algeo
(ibid, 265-9) even state a number of disciplines that are connected with study of names:
anthropology, genealogy, history, lexicography, linguistics, and the list goes on and on.

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Harry Botter
Dia Abdullah Sulaibi
(75-86)

Vo no. 21-22
Winter and spring
2014

What is of interest to the subject of the current paper is the mention of literature as one of
those disciplines.

2. Names in literature
The name of a character, a place or a thing in the real world could be reflected in
works of literature. Literature, after all, represents a language or a people: culture and
tradition (Lombardi, 2013). This could be seen almost in every work of literature. When
Leo Tolstoy wrote War and Peace, he gave us an account of a historical event that
included names of real people (Napoleon, Tsar Alexander I), real places (Saint
Petersburg, Moscow) and real things (the Battle of Austerlitz, the Decembrist Uprising),
such thing usually takes place in historical fiction. Some other literary works have used
certain real elements that already have their own names and have merged them with a
number of fictitious elements to which fictitious names were created.
A good example of this is Charles Dickens and his writings that usually presented and
criticized some aspects of British society. His writings are well-known to take place in
real places and to deal with real things, but all his characters are fictitious. Some of his
characters were based on real people but with names that were devised for the purpose of
emphasizing the characteristics of those characters. One example is the name of the
untidy old nurse, Sairy Gamp, from the novel Martin Chuzzlewit, which was felt to be
suggestive of the disreputable umbrella she carried, for her name was retained as a
contribution to the language in order that large and baggy umbrellas might thenceforth be
designated as 'gamps' (Gordon, 1917: 5). Another example is no other than Oliver Twist
the hero of the self titled novel. There is suggestiveness in the meaning of the word twist
that hints at the "wrenching out of place," the intertwining of forces good and evil that
seek to influence the course of the boy's life. That this interpretation is not fanciful may
be seen from Dickens' own comment: "I wish to show, in little Oliver, the principle of
Good surviving through every adverse circumstance and triumphing at last." (Dickens
quoted in Gordon, 1917: 7).
Characters' names can be used artistically to achieve a number of goals like encoding a
central trait in a particular character's signification, embracing crucial thematic motifs,
ideological toning as well as even showing the particular writer's point of view. Some of
these qualities are easily lost in translation (Wamitila, 1999: 35), something that is
captured in the formula traduttori tradittori (translators are traitors).
Bertilles (2004) proposed the following categorization regarding proper names in
fiction:
1. Conventional personal names, including first names and/or family names that belong
to the general anthroponomy. This category includes only names that are found as
such in the general name register and which cannot be defined as suggesting any
characteristic
traits
of
the
name-bearer.
She made a distinction between completely conventional names and modified
conventional names which refers to names that are clearly derived from conventional

A quartly Refereed Journal Issued by the Department of Translation Studies BaytulBaytul-HikmaHikma- Baghdad
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Translation
Studies

2.

3.

Harry Botter
Dia Abdullah Sulaibi
(75-86)

Vo no. 21-22
Winter and spring
2014

names (first names or family names). These are names which include elements that
can be transparently traced back to ordinary names, or whose orthographic form is
modified from conventional names.
Invented names or coined names which are semantically loaded and are formed or
invented for the purpose of a certain narrative context. Most of these names are
clearly or unclearly semantically loaded, or have a clearly discernable origin. In this
regard there is a distinction between invented or names derived from other words and
imaginary names. She used the term imaginary names with reference to names that
have no transparent semantic content, that is, they do not include already existing
word forms. They are still coined for a specific narrative context.
Classic names (also historical, universal or literary names) contain a universal
content, that is, the name is associated with certain characteristics independently of
cultural or linguistic context. For instance, the classic names of literary characters
Hamlet. She stated that these are not conventional and do not have any noticeable
meaning.

3. Names in Fantasy Literature

There are three important types of meaning that names usually convey in fantasy
literature (Fernandes, 2006:46).
First there is Semantic Meaning in order to describe a certain quality of a particular
narrative element and/or create some comic effects. A characters name is a
personification of either vices or virtues or of general qualities relevant to human life
(Manini, 1996). For example, the surname Fowl in the fantasy novel Artemis Fowl by
Eoin Colfer. Fowl /faul/ has the same pronunciation as the English word foul /faul/,
which means evil or wicked (The Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary 2004).
This gives the reader an idea of what they are about to expect from the members of the
Fowl family, especially from Artemis Fowl himself, the evil main character of the novel
and the wicked criminal in the story.
The second type of meaning is Semiotic Meaning. Names in many cultures act as
signs, generating ancient or more recent historical associations, indicating gender, class,
nationality, religious identity, intertextuality, mythology and so on. According to
Tymoczko (1999), these are the most problematic to be translated, especially due to their
semiotic significance which is often culture-bound. The fantasy novel The Lightening
Thief by Rick Riordan is a good example, as it is mostly based on Greek mythology. In
this novel we find references to characters like Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades that are totally
not related to Arabic culture and may create a real challenge to the translator. The first
name of the main character, the kid Percy Jackson, is a reference in itself. It is revealed in
the novel that his name Percy is short for Perseus which is yet another reference to a
Greek mythological hero. Just knowing this information explains a lot of the characters
behaviors and even foreshadows what comes later in the story.

A quartly Refereed Journal Issued by the Department

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Translation
Studies

Harry Botter
Dia Abdullah Sulaibi
(75-86)

Vo no. 21-22
Winter and spring
2014

The third is Sound Symbolic Meaning which refers to the use of specific sounds or
features of sounds in a partly systematic relation to meanings or categories of meaning
(Matthews 1997: 347). Some examples of imitative sound symbolic meaning can be
found in names such as Breehy-hinny-brinny-hoohy-hah (a horse in the fantasy novel
The Horse and His boy by C. S. Lewis), and Rumblebuffin (a giant in The Lion, the
Witch and the Wardrobe also by C. S. Lewis), which attempt to imitate respectively the
whining of a horse, and the booming voice of a giant. Imitative sound symbols often have
component phonesthetic sound symbols just like the examples mentioned above.

4. Names in Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone

A lot of names were used in Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone; they can be
classified as follows:
1- First names of people (Harry, Vernon, Petunia, Dudley, Albus, Minerva, Rubeus, Lily,
James, Sirius, Cornelius, Griphook, Hermione, Hedwig)
2- Surnames of people (Potter, Dursley, Dumbledore, McGonagall, Hagrid, Black,
Fudge, Weasley, Longbottom, Flamel, Gryffindor)
3- Names given to people or taken by them (Voldemort, You-Know-Who, He-WhoMust-Not-Be-Named, Nearly Headless Neck)
4- Names of places (Privet Drive, Britain, Godrics Hollow, Hogwarts, Bristol, Brazil, the
Forbidden Forest, Kings Cross, Kent, Bristol)
5- Names of groups and creatures (Muggle, wizard, witch, goblin, dragon, vampire, hag,
unicorn, phoenix, werewolf, centaur, zombie, ghost)
6- Names of devices and things (the put-outer, Remembrall, the Quaffle, the Bludger, the
Golden Snitch, Knut, Sickle, Galleon, parchment)
7- Names of holidays (Bonfire Night, Christmas and Halloween)
8- Names of creative works, like songs (Tiptoe through the Tulips)
9- Names of titles (Supreme Wugwump, Prefect, Head boy, Head girl, Keeper of Keys
and Grounds at Hogwarts, Seeker, Beater, Chaser)
10- Names of buildings and shops (Gringotts, Ministry of Magic, Flourish and Blotts, the
Great Hall, Eeylops Owl Emporium)
11- Names of printed works (Daily Prophet, Standard Book of Spells, History of Magic,
Magical Theory, Beginners Guide to Transformation)
12- Names of Products (Nimbus Two Thousand, Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans,
Cleansweep Seven, Droobles Best blowing Gum)
13- Names of dishes (Chocolate Frogs, Cauldron Cakes, pork chops, bacon, Pumpkin
Pasties, Licorice Wands, Yorkshire pudding, Jell-O)
14- Names of classes and games (Transfiguration, Potions, Herbology, History of Magic,
Charms, Defence against the Dark Arts, Quidditch)
15- Names of plants (Willow, Mahogany, Yew, asphodel, wormwood)
16- Names of spells and incantations (Alohomora, Locomotor Mortis, Petrificus Totalus,
Wingardium Leviosa)

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Translation
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Harry Botter
Dia Abdullah Sulaibi
(75-86)

Vo no. 21-22
Winter and spring
2014

This classification includes all the aspects of naming that were used in the novel, but
the examples given between the brackets are not all the names in the novel as there are
many more that were not included here but might be mentioned later on.
The Harry Potter books take place between two worlds, which is almost one of the
distinctive features of fantasy novels. These two worlds are the ordinary world (called the
muggle world in the novel but will be called the real world in this paper) and the
magical world (called the wizarding world in the novel and will be called so in this
paper as well). This literary fact requires the following further elaboration. Within the
classes of this elaborate classification, it is more accurate to indicate four types2 of names
that can be pinpointed in several of the abovementioned classes:
A- Names that can be found in the real world and can be used to refer to real people and
things in the real world (e.g. Harry, Petunia, London, Brazil, Christmas, Prefect,
Kings Cross etc.)
B- Names that can be found in the real world and can be used to refer to things in the real
world figuratively, or to refer to things that are not in the real world, only in myths
(e.g. wizard, witch, ghost, dragon, unicorn, goblin, zombie, vampire, werewolf etc.)
C- Names that cannot be found in the real world [were coined by Rowling] and refer to
things that can be found in the real world (e.g. muggle: a word that was coined by
Rowling to refer to ordinary people who do not have magical powers)
D- Names that cannot be found in the real world [were also coined by Rowling] and refer
to things and people that cannot be found in the real world [things that can only be
found in the wizarding world of Harry Potter], this type of names is the one most used
in Harry Potter (e.g. Voldemort, Supreme Wugwump, Daily Prophet, Gringotts,
Gryffindor, Quidditch, Alohomora, Hogwarts etc.)
Naturally, the distinction that Fernandes (2006) have introduced can be applied to
Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone as well. The Semantic Meaning was repeatedly
used in names that carry in their meaning(s) the good or bad qualities of the characters.
Examples: Albus in Latin means white, emphasizing the whiteness of Albus
Dumbledores beard and his personal traits; the color white symbolizes things that are
sincere, spotless, and faithful (Ferber, 1999: 234). Binns, the name of one of the
professors at Hogwarts, sound like the plural form of bin which is what the British call
"a garbage can." and many students consider Professor Binns' information to be rubbish.
Gryffindor, is made of two parts. In its first part it has a reference to "griffin" which is "a
creature in mythology with the body of a lion and the head of an eagle." Also known in
Greek Mythology as the "gryphon," it was the protector of a god's gold from mortal men.
In Greek, "gryphon" means "protector of wealth." In French "d'or" means "of gold," one
of the Gryffindor House colors. The gryffin is fitting, considering lions are characterized
as brave and courageous and eagles are described as being noble birds, all traits of the
Gryffindor House.3
As far as Semiotic Meaning is related, there are several examples. In Gender there is
Hermione and Ronald, in class there is Sir Nicolas De Mimsy-Porpington, and in
mythology there is centaur, unicorn and many others.
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Translation
Studies

Harry Botter
Dia Abdullah Sulaibi
(75-86)

Vo no. 21-22
Winter and spring
2014

The third is Sound Symbolic Meaning. Examples are Madam Norris (a cat in Harry
Potter and the Philosophers Stone) which attempts to imitate the angry hiss and growl of
a cat, Another example is the initial cluster /sl/ which can be found in words such as
slime, slug, slithery, slobbery, slog, and they are usually connected with
unpleasantness. In Harry Potter the name of Salazar Slytherin the founder of the illreputed Slytherin house in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry follows this
phonesthetic pattern, thus showing how useful such a concept can be to understand some
patterns of naming.

5. Translating Names in Literary Works

Newmark (1988: 70) discusses many methods of translating proper names from one
language into another. Within proper names he includes names of people (historical
figures, biblical names, and classic writers), trademarks, brand-names, geographical
names, forms of address, names of firms, private institutions, schools, universities,
hospitals, etc., and names of newspapers, journals, periodicals.
He gives some space to specifically deal with translating proper names in literary
works. His descriptive approach suggests that names in works of literature should not be
translated into the target language but should be conveyed as they are in the source
language. If the names belong to characters that are naturalized along with social
environment then they can be translated. He still believes that this can also be avoided if
the names were left intact and the connotation of the meaning of the name was given in a
glossary.
The popularity of the literary work is an important factor in the translation of names
according to Newmark; if a work and its characters names are well known in the target
culture then it is not recommended to translate the names. But if it is an old or unheard of
literary work then this might be done, especially in allegorical works.
These are very interesting points and can be applied to the translation of proper names
in Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone from English into other languages. The
Italian and the Spanish translations will be considered here to focus on the translation of
proper names. The translators in both these translations have kept the names of the
characters without alteration but there are examples where explanations of the meanings
of the names were given to readers as in Draco (dragon) Malfoy (Spanish translation)
where instead of translating the meaning of the name, the meaning of Draco is given
between two brackets. In other cases the names are translated in accordance with their
connotation to create new names in the target language: Slytherin becomes Serpeverde,
Snape becomes Piton, Filch becomes Gazza and Quentin Tremble becomes Dante
Tremante (Italian translation). There are some cases in which the translator is after the
comic effect of the English name and tries to create an equivalent effect in the target text
as in Babbani to stand for Muggle and Supremo Pezzo Grosso that replaced Supreme
Mugwump in the Italian translation. Also in the Italian translation, there were cases where
the translator kept the name without translating it but altered it a little to suit the linguistic
A quartly Refereed Journal Issued by the Department of Translation Studies BaytulBaytul-HikmaHikma- Baghdad
ISSN: +221-9498

Translation
Studies

Harry Botter
Dia Abdullah Sulaibi
(75-86)

Vo no. 21-22
Winter and spring
2014

(in this case, the phonological) preferences of the TL reader; case in point is Gryffindor
which was translated into Grifondoro. (Munday, 2006: 121)

6. Translating Names in Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone

into Arabic
Translating names in Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone into Arabic can be
categorized in the following categorization proposed by the researcher to indentify the many
strategies utilized for that purpose.4
1. Rendition: This strategy is used when the name has apparent meanings and can be
easily translated
Ministry of Magic

The Leaky Cauldron

The Black Forest

Pumpkin Pasties
The Great Hall !"#$ %
The Bloody Baron & '%
The Fat Lady )*'% "'
2. Transliteration: This strategy was the one most used in the Arabic version; the names
were copied from the ST to the TT directly without changes except in the process of
changing Latin letters into Arabic letters, i.e. transliteration.
Harry Potter +
Privet Drive .* /0*
Albus Dumbledore '1% %
Voldemort '
Sirius Black 5 " * 6
Hogwarts 7+
Rubeus Hagrid '* "
There are cases where one part of the name is transliterated and the other is translated
Diagon Alley ( )* :
Mirror of Erised ('" * )
Elfric the Eager 7 < *=( 0 )
But there were some changes that the differences between the two languages have made
inevitable, such as the fact that Arabic lacks some of the consonants that exist in the English
language (/p/, /g/, /v/, /t/) which were replaced with their closest phonological equivalents in
Arabic; (/b/, / d/, /f/, //) respectively.
3. Deletion: There are many cases in which the name was deleted altogether from the
Arabic version. The reason behind the deletion is that the translator either deems the name
expendable in itself or that the whole paragraph or sentence in which the name exists is not
important and can be cut out. Sometimes a part of the name is deleted while the rest remains.
Mars Bars XXXX
Licorice Wands XXXX
Tiptoe through the Tulips XXXX
Droobles Best Blowing Gum @0< %1

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Dia Abdullah Sulaibi
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Vo no. 21-22
Winter and spring
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4. Addition: This is usually done in the translation of names that the translator thinks
need introduction, explanation, or elaboration that were not in the name in the original text.
Godrics Hollow ( 7A*' ) 1
The Daily Prophet (& " B%)< )0" C
Hogwarts: A History (7+ ) D* + < F
Potions 0C
Broomstick * 6 G
H
Kings Cross ( F I@)"F)
5. Phonological Replacement: where the TT name attempts to mimic phonological
features of a ST name by replacing the latter with an existing name in the target language
which somehow invokes the sound image of the SL name being replaced. There is only one
example, and a very interesting one, in this category.
Morgana
6. Elaboration: Here the names were not translated but were replaced by words, phrases
or sentences that clarify the meaning of the name and/or minimizes its strangeness.
Muggles $
Bonfire Night * ) $ J " $G+ &< J 0<:J' :
Supreme Wugwump K* $G 1 M1HJ 71@ 7"
Goblin 6 IO
Hag * : 6
Herbology + %) ! 1H
Bezoar
' P 'Q< + :
Remebrall "FR< F
7. Conventionality: This was used hen a TL name was conventionally accepted as the
translation of a particular SL name. It is commonly used with names of historical/literary
figures and geographical locations. This also worked with the names of mythical creatures
since their names are already established in the TL.
London )'
Brazil * %
Dragon K")+
Vampire
Werewolf T R<
Centaur ) O
8. Substitution: The TL name and the SL name exist in their respective referential
worlds, but are not related to each other in terms of form and or semantic significance.
Troll V
Despite all of these strategies, there are few things to be noted about the Arabic translation
of names here. First, there was no consistency in translating some of the names, like Prefect
which was sometimes translated into
0 ' and into R" 5< 7" at other times. Knuts were
translated into + ) in some places and into + ) in other places. Also some of the different
names in English had the same translation in Arabic. Head boy and Head girl were translated
into !
& and Prefect was also translated into
0 ' which is practically the
same. The same thing happens to Poltergeist which is translated into * G %G and %G

A quartly Refereed Journal Issued by the Department of Translation Studies BaytulBaytul-HikmaHikma- Baghdad
ISSN: +221-9498

Translation
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Harry Botter
Dia Abdullah Sulaibi
(75-86)

Vo no. 21-22
Winter and spring
2014

TV G on different occasions and also parchment which was once translated into '1
and then into '1@ X%G* while there is an excellent equivalent for it in Arabic that is
or
% .
It should also be mentioned that there are some names that obviously confused the
translator who had to follow her instinct and make a choice, such as Griphook which could
be read as Grip hook or Grifook. Strangely, it is not translated into %* or 0* but into
0)* with an extra ( /n/ sound). Bogie was translated into Y%$ although it meant mucus
and this can be deducted through the many uses of this word in the novel.
There were a number of names of historical figures that could have been translated well
by simply going back to related books or websites and find out their already established
names in the TL, for example, Ptolemy which was translated into & < while it should have
been translated into " 1 .

Conclusions
Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone is a creative work with many creative sides to it,
like the names that are either straight forward or layered with allusions and references. Such
creativity needs creative translators to convey it other languages that will try to recreate the
creativity or even, sometimes, outdo it. This happened in many translations like the Italian, the
Spanish, the French and many others, but it was not that successful in the Arabic version. When
the translation of names where studied in this paper, it was found out that the amount of creativity
that was utilized was very limited as the translation was very strict and play on words, or any
other method of linguistic manipulation, was rarely attempted. The translator has resorted to
elaborating names extensively to solve many problems that faced her, like in Muggle which was
simply translated into $ instead of looking for a more creative word like the original one. Even
Supreme Wugwump, which is supposed to have a comic effect on the reader, is minimized into
the formalK* $G 1 M1HJ 71@ 7" , and Herbology, which is supposed to be the study of
magical herbs, is made mundane by translating it into %) ! 1H; the same name used to translate
Botany. The Arabic translation of the names in Harry Potter and the philosophers Stone is
marred by confusion and lack of creativity; two things that the original text is farthest from.

Notes
1. This is not a mistake. The letter b was used instead of the letter p in the surname of Harry
Potter, so it became Harry Botter. This is because in Arabic the sound /p/, which is always
represented in English by the letter p, does not have a phonetic equivalent in Arabic; it
simply does not exist in the Arabic phonological system. So, in the Arabic translation of
Harry Potter, it was replaced by the sound /b/, which is always represented in English by the
letter b and in Arabic by the letter "", which is the closest to an equivalent to the /p/
sound. The result is + which is pronounced Harry Botter by Arab readers.
2. It is stated, in types C and D, that these names cannot be found in the real world, but they do
exist now in the real world after the books were published and can be used by real people in
real situations to refer to real people or things, an can also be used figuratively, but they were
not there before that.. The word Muggle was even added to the Oxford English Dictionary
in 2003 because it was being used every day by so many people all over the world. In the
fiction of J. K. Rowling the word means a person who possesses no magical powers. But in

A quartly Refereed Journal Issued by the Department

Department of Translation Studies BaytulBaytul-HikmaHikma- Baghdad
ISSN: +221-9498

Translation
Studies

Harry Botter
Dia Abdullah Sulaibi
(75-86)

Vo no. 21-22
Winter and spring
2014

allusive and extended uses it started to refer to a person who lacks a particular skill or skills,
or who is regarded as inferior in some way (BBC, 2003).
3. All of the meanings and origins of names of Harry Potter characters and other things are quoted
from Muggle Net a website dedicated to the Harry Potter literature (www.mugglenet.com)
4. Most of the titles of classes in this classification were based on the ones suggested by
Fernandes (2006: 50).

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A quartly Refereed Journal Issued by the Department of Translation Studies BaytulBaytul-HikmaHikma- Baghdad
ISSN: +221-9498