Inherited or Chosen? Domestication and Meaning Reduction in The Banyumasan Javanese Qur’an Translation

Abstract

This study investigates the neurotheological reconstruction of Qur'anic foundations undertaken by Indonesian Translating the Qur’an into a regional language is not simply a transfer of meaning, but a negotiation between the authority of the source text, the resources of the receiving language, and the cultural horizon of its readers. The Qur’an and Its Banyumasan Javanese Translation (QTJB), produced under a state program, is one such case. This study examines how culture-specific items in Sūrat al-Mā’ida are rendered in the QTJB, using Lawrence Venuti’s distinction between domestication and foreignization, and comparing each rendering with the corresponding decision in the 2010 Indonesian state translation. Nineteen items were identified and classified by translation technique. The aggregate distribution shows a narrow preference for domestication, but the comparison reveals that the two orientations do not carry equal weight. Every retained Arabic term follows a decision already made in the state translation, which the guidelines required the team to consult, whereas departures from that model are confined to items rendered by adaptation. Domestication is therefore concentrated at the points where the translator exercised discretion, and it is at those points that meaning is reduced through merging, widening, substitution, narrowing, and a shift of religious frame. Contribution: The findings suggest that guidelines for regional-language Qur’an translation should address what happens when a local equivalent is narrower than the Arabic term it replaces.