Kharja
Encyclopedia
The kharja also known as jarcha in Spanish
, is the final refrain of a muwashshah
, a lyric genre of Al-Andalus
(the Islam
ic Iberian Peninsula
) written in Classical Arabic or Hebrew.
The muwashshah consists of five stanzas (bait) of four to six lines, alternating with five or six refrains (qufl); each refrain has the same rhyme and metre, whereas each stanza has only the same metre. The kharja appears often to have been composed independently of the muwashshah in which it is found.
Generally, though not always, the kharja is presented as a quotation from a speaker who is introduced in the preceding stanza.
It is not uncommon to find the same kharja attached to several different muwashshahat. The Egyptian writer Ibn Sanā' al-Mulk (1155–1211), in his Dar al-Tirāz (a study of the muwashshahat, including an anthology) states that the kharja was the most important part of the poem, that the poets generated the muwashshah from the kharja, and that consequently it was considered better to borrow a good kharja than compose a bad one.
Kharjas may describe love, praise, the pleasures of drinking, but also ascetism.
Their rediscovery in the 20th century by Hebrew scholar Samuel Miklos Stern and Arabist
Emilio García Gómez
is generally thought to have cast new light on the evolution of Romance languages.
The Romance kharjas are thematically comparatively restricted, being almost entirely about love. Approximately three quarters of them are put into the mouths of women, while the proportion for Arabic kharjas is nearer one fifth.
or North Africa
as Ahmad Al-Tifasi (1184–1253) referred to "songs in the Christian style" sung in Al-Andalus from ancient times that some have identified as the kharjas.
Other scholars dispute such claims, arguing that the kharjas stand firmly within the Arabic tradition with little or no Romance input at all, and the apparent similarities only arise because the kharjas discuss themes that are universal in human literature anyway.
Most of the Romance kharjas are not written entirely in Romance, but include Arabic elements to a greater or lesser extent. It has been argued that such blending cannot possibly represent the natural speech-patterns of the Romance-speakers, and that the Romance kharjas must therefore be regarded as macaronic literature.
A minority of scholars, such as Richard Hitchcock contend that the Romance Kharjas are, in fact, not predominantly in a Romance language at all, but rather an extremely colloquial Arabic idiom bearing marked influence from the local Romance varieties. Such scholars accuse the academic majority of misreading the ambiguous script in untenable or questionable ways and ignoring contemporary Arab accounts of how Muwashshahat and Kharjas were composed.
:
These verses express the theme of the pain of longing for the absent lover (habib). Many scholars have compared such themes to the Galician-Portuguese
Cantigas de Amigo
which date from c. 1220 to c. 1300, but “[t]he early trend […] towards seeing a genetic link between kharajat and cantigas d’amigo seems now to have been over-hasty.”
The kharja is from a muwashshah in the Dar al-Tirāz of Ibn Sanā' al-Mulk.
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, is the final refrain of a muwashshah
Muwashshah
Muwashshah or muwaššaḥ can mean:...
, a lyric genre of Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus was the Arabic name given to a nation and territorial region also commonly referred to as Moorish Iberia. The name describes parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Muslims , at various times in the period between 711 and 1492, although the territorial boundaries...
(the Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
ic Iberian Peninsula
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
) written in Classical Arabic or Hebrew.
The muwashshah consists of five stanzas (bait) of four to six lines, alternating with five or six refrains (qufl); each refrain has the same rhyme and metre, whereas each stanza has only the same metre. The kharja appears often to have been composed independently of the muwashshah in which it is found.
Characteristics of the Kharja
About a third of extant kharjas are written in Classical Arabic. Most of the remainder are in Andalusi Arabic, but there are about seventy examples that are written either in Ibero-Romance or with significant Romance elements. None are recorded in Hebrew even when the muwashshah is in Hebrew.Generally, though not always, the kharja is presented as a quotation from a speaker who is introduced in the preceding stanza.
It is not uncommon to find the same kharja attached to several different muwashshahat. The Egyptian writer Ibn Sanā' al-Mulk (1155–1211), in his Dar al-Tirāz (a study of the muwashshahat, including an anthology) states that the kharja was the most important part of the poem, that the poets generated the muwashshah from the kharja, and that consequently it was considered better to borrow a good kharja than compose a bad one.
Kharjas may describe love, praise, the pleasures of drinking, but also ascetism.
Romance Kharjas
Though they comprise only a fraction of the corpus of extant kharjas, it is the Romance kharjas that have attracted the greatest scholarly interest. With examples dating back to the 11th century, this genre of poetry is believed to be among the oldest in any Romance language, and certainly the earliest recorded form of lyric poetry in Ibero-Romance.Their rediscovery in the 20th century by Hebrew scholar Samuel Miklos Stern and Arabist
Arabist
This is an article about the western scholars known as Arabists, not the political movement Pan-Arabism.An Arabist is someone normally from outside the Arab World who specialises in the study of the Arabic language and Arab culture, and often Arabic literature.-Origins:Arabists began in medieval...
Emilio García Gómez
Emilio García Gómez
Emilio García Gómez, 1st Count of Alixares was a Spanish Arabist, literary historian and critic, whose talent as a poet enriched his many translations from Arabic.-Life:...
is generally thought to have cast new light on the evolution of Romance languages.
The Romance kharjas are thematically comparatively restricted, being almost entirely about love. Approximately three quarters of them are put into the mouths of women, while the proportion for Arabic kharjas is nearer one fifth.
Debate over Origins
Since the kharja may be written separately from the muwashshah, many scholars have speculated that the Romance Kharjas were originally popular Spanish lyrics that the court poets incorporated into their poems. Some similarities have been claimed with other early Romance lyrics in theme, metre, and idiom. Arab writers from the Middle EastMiddle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
or North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
as Ahmad Al-Tifasi (1184–1253) referred to "songs in the Christian style" sung in Al-Andalus from ancient times that some have identified as the kharjas.
Other scholars dispute such claims, arguing that the kharjas stand firmly within the Arabic tradition with little or no Romance input at all, and the apparent similarities only arise because the kharjas discuss themes that are universal in human literature anyway.
Debate over Language and Reading
Modern translations of the Romance kharjas are a matter of debate particularly because Hebrew and Arabic scripts do not include vowels. Most of them were copied by scribes who probably did not understand the language they were recording, which may have caused errors in transmission. A large spectrum of translations is possible given the ambiguity created by the missing vowels and potentially erroneous consonants. Because of this, most translations of these texts will be disputed by some. Severe criticism has been made of García Gómez's editions because of his palaeographical errors. Further debate arises around the mixed vocabulary used by the authors.Most of the Romance kharjas are not written entirely in Romance, but include Arabic elements to a greater or lesser extent. It has been argued that such blending cannot possibly represent the natural speech-patterns of the Romance-speakers, and that the Romance kharjas must therefore be regarded as macaronic literature.
A minority of scholars, such as Richard Hitchcock contend that the Romance Kharjas are, in fact, not predominantly in a Romance language at all, but rather an extremely colloquial Arabic idiom bearing marked influence from the local Romance varieties. Such scholars accuse the academic majority of misreading the ambiguous script in untenable or questionable ways and ignoring contemporary Arab accounts of how Muwashshahat and Kharjas were composed.
Romance
An example of a Romance Kharja (and translation) by the Jewish poet Yehuda HaleviYehuda Halevi
Judah Halevi was a Spanish Jewish physician, poet and philosopher. He was born in Spain, either in Toledo or Tudela, in 1075 or 1086, and died shortly after arriving in Palestine in 1141...
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These verses express the theme of the pain of longing for the absent lover (habib). Many scholars have compared such themes to the Galician-Portuguese
Galician-Portuguese
Galician-Portuguese or Old Portuguese was a West Iberian Romance language spoken in the Middle Ages, in the northwest area of the Iberian Peninsula. It was first spoken in the area bounded in the north and west by the Atlantic Ocean and the Douro River in the south but it was later extended south...
Cantigas de Amigo
Cantiga de amigo
The Cantiga de amigo or Cantiga d'amigo , literally a "song about a boyfriend", is a genre of medieval erotic lyric poetry, apparently rooted in a song tradition native to the northwest quadrant of the Iberian Peninsula. What mainly distinguishes the cantiga de amigo is its focus on a world of...
which date from c. 1220 to c. 1300, but “[t]he early trend […] towards seeing a genetic link between kharajat and cantigas d’amigo seems now to have been over-hasty.”
Arabic
An example of an Arabic kharja:- How beautiful is the army with its orderly ranks
- When the champions call out, ‘Oh, Wāthiq, oh, handsome one!’
The kharja is from a muwashshah in the Dar al-Tirāz of Ibn Sanā' al-Mulk.
See also
- AljamiadoAljamiadoAljamiado or Aljamía texts are manuscripts which use the Arabic script for transcribing Romance languages such as Mozarabic, Berber Spanish or Ladino.According to Anwar G...
, the practice of writing a Romance language with the Arabic script. - MuwashshahMuwashshahMuwashshah or muwaššaḥ can mean:...
- Iberian Romance languagesIberian Romance languagesThe Iberian Romance languages or Ibero-Romance languages are the Romance languages that developed on the Iberian Peninsula, an area consisting primarily of Spain, Portugal, and Andorra....
- MozarabMozarabThe Mozarabs were Iberian Christians who lived under Arab Islamic rule in Al-Andalus. Their descendants remained unconverted to Islam, but did however adopt elements of Arabic language and culture...
- Mozarabic languageMozarabic languageMozarabic was a continuum of closely related Romance dialects spoken in Muslim-dominated areas of the Iberian Peninsula during the early stages of the Romance languages' development in Iberia. Mozarabic descends from Late Latin and early Romance dialects spoken in the Iberian Peninsula from the 5th...
- Spanish poetrySpanish poetrySpanish poetry is the poetic tradition of Spain. It may include elements of Spanish literature, and literatures written in languages of Spain other than Castilian, such as Catalan literature....
- Arabic poetryArabic poetryArabic poetry is the earliest form of Arabic literature. Present knowledge of poetry in Arabic dates from the 6th century, but oral poetry is believed to predate that. Arabic poetry is categorized into two main types, rhymed, or measured, and prose, with the former greatly preceding the latter...
External links
- Texts of fifty-five kharjas, with different transcriptions and translation to English French and German
- Ten kharjas translated to English
Editions of the Kharjas and Bibliography
- Corriente, Federico, Poesía dialectal árabe y romance en Alandalús, Madrid, Gredos, 1997 (contains all extant kharjas in Romance and Arabic)
- Stern, Samuel Miklos, Les Chansons mozarabes, Palermo, Manfredi, 1953.
- García Gómez, Emilio, Las jarchas romances de la serie árabe en su marco : edición en caracteres latinos, versión española en calco rítmico y estudio de 43 moaxajas andaluzas, Madrid, Sociedad de Estudios y Publicaciones, 1965, ISBN 84-206-2652-X
- Solà-Solé, Josep Maria, Corpus de poesía mozárabe, Barcelona, Hispam, 1973.
- Monroe, James & David Swiatlo, ‘Ninety-Three Arabic Harğas in Hebrew Muwaššaḥs: Their Hispano-Romance Prosody and Thematic Features’, Journal of the American Oriental Society, 97, 1977, pp. 141-163.
- Galmés de Fuentes, Álvaro, Las Jarchas Mozárabes, forma y Significado, Barcelona, Crítica, 1994, ISBN 84-7423-667-3
- Nimer, Miguel, Influências Orientais na Língua Portuguesa, São Paulo, 2005, ISBN 85-314-0707-9
- Armistead S.G., Kharjas and villancicos, in «Journal of Arabic Literature», Volume 34, Numbers 1-2, 2003, pp. 3–19(17)
- Hitchcock, Richard, The "Kharjas" as early Romance Lyrics: a Review, in «The Modern Language Review», Vol. 75, No. 3 (Jul., 1980), pp. 481-491
- Zwartjes, Otto & Heijkoop, Henk, Muwaššaḥ, zajal, kharja : bibliography of eleven centuries of strophic poetry and music from al-Andalus and their influence on East and West, 2004, ISBN 90-04-13822-6