Reflections of polysemous words in the Turkish translations of the Qur'an

Polysemous words emerge when historically monosemous words come to encompass multiple meanings over time as a result of their usage in different contexts. Due to its ancient and rich heritage, Arabic is known to possess a vast repertoire of polysemous words. Since Arabic is the language of revelation of the Qur'an, polysemous words are frequently employed in the Qur'anic text. The aim of this study is to draw attention to the importance of working meticulously on polysemous words in the Qur'an by revealing the legal and semantic consequences arising from the choices of meaning made in their translations. Within the methodological framework of our research, we examined ten polysemous concepts upon which five classical scholars, who authored works on polysemous words in the Qur'an, were in agreement. Subsequently, we analyzed the meanings assigned to these concepts in the verses where they occur, based on fifteen Turkish translations of the Qur'an that we consulted as references. We compared and classified the obtained data and, in the conclusion, evaluated them in light of the preferences of both the scholars and the translators. Our evaluation revealed that while scholars and translators often concurred in their meaning choices, there were also instances where different meanings were preferred. We detailed these findings one by one. Moreover, we identified cases in which the selected meanings of polysemous words led to differences in the rulings and interpretations of the verses, and where the meanings attributed to the same polysemous term diverged considerably, thereby generating semantic variety. In light of all these findings, we concluded that the polysemous words in the Qur'an should be examined with meticulous attention to their contextual and conceptual dimensions, and that such an investigation requires profound knowledge and an interdisciplinary approach.