George Grigore

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George Grigore (b. February 2, 1958) is a Romanian writer, essayist, translator, professor, researcher in Middle Eastern Studies.

George Grigore in Mardin, 2006
George Grigore in Mardin, 2006

Contents

[edit] Biography

George Grigore was born in the village of Grindu (southeastern Romania), on February 2, 1958. In 1983, he graduated the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures of the University of Bucharest and in 1997, he earned a Ph.D. from the same University, with the dissertation entitled Some Questions Regarding the Translation of the Qur’an into Romanian.

In 2000, as an editor-translator, he launched at Kriterion Publishing House the Bibliotheca Islamica collection, where he published, among others, his own translations of numerous works, foundamental for the Islamic culture. His translation of the Qur’an was most noteworthy and published in several editions, including a bilingual one, printed in Istanbul, in 2003.

Since 2001, George Grigore has been the associate editor of Romano-Arabica, the academic review published by the Center of Arabic Studies of the University of Bucharest.

Further to his translations from Arabic, George Grigore has also published translations of Romanian literature into Arabic, among which The Mould, by the Romanian playwright Marin Sorescu (Al-Mağrā, Baghdad) and The Tyranny of Dream, by the Romanian poet Carolina Ilica (Taghyān al-Hulm, Lebanon). His anthology of Romanian poetry rendered into Arabic (Kāna yağibu, Baghdad) has been awarded the prize of the Iraqi Writers Union.

George Grigore did not confine his pedagogical activity to the lectures delivered at the University of Bucharest, but wrote various books meant to be practical tools both for the students and for all those interested to learn the Arabic language and do not have philological expertise (dictionaries, a conversation guide, a manual of orthography and calligraphy).

George Grigore published studies on the Qur’an and Islam, as well as on the Arabic dialects (with a special focus on the dialects of Baghdad and Mardin). Beyond the field of Arabistics, he also undertook researches in Kurdish Studies.

[edit] Affiliations

The Qur’an – bilingual edition, Romanian-Arabic, translated by George Grigore, Publisher: Çağrı Yayınları, Istanbul, 2003
The Qur’an – bilingual edition, Romanian-Arabic, translated by George Grigore, Publisher: Çağrı Yayınları, Istanbul, 2003
  • Member of the Association Internationale de Dialectologie Arabe
  • Member of the Romanian Association for Religious Studies
  • Member of the Writers’ Union of Romania
  • Honorary Member of the Iraqi Writers’ Union
  • Member of the Center of Arabic Studies, University of Bucharest

[edit] List of works and translations published (selection)

  • Poveşti irakiene (Iraqi Tales), Coresi, 1993
  • Slujitorii Diavolului; Cartea Neagră, Cartea Dezvăluirii (Worshipers of Devil. The Black Book, The Book of Revelation), Călin, 1994
  • Poporul kurd – file de istorie (The Kurdish People. Pages of History), Interprint, 1997
  • Problematica traducerii Coranului în limba română (Questions Regarding the Translation of the Qur’an into Romanian), Ararat, 1997
  • Dicţionar Arab-român (Arabic-Romanian Dictionary), Teora, 1998
  • Coranul (The Qur’an), Kriterion, 2000; 2002; Herald, 2005
  • Al-Ghazali, Firida luminilor (The Niche of Lights), Kriterion, 2001
  • Ibn Tufayl, Hayy bin Yaqzan, Kriterion, 2001
  • Ibn Ruşd, Cuvânt hotărâtor (Ibn Rushd – The Decisive Word), Kriterion, 2001
  • Badiuzzaman Said Nursi, Cuvinte [Words], Nesıl Yayınları, Istanbul, 2002
  • Ibn 'Arabi, Geneza cercurilor [The Genesis of Circles], Kriterion, 2003
  • Coranul [The Qur’an – bilingual edition, Romanian-Arabic], Çağrı Yayınları, Istanbul, 2003
  • Ochiul lăuntric – perspective islamice asupra divinităţii [The Inner Eye. Islamic Perspectives on Divinity], Herald, 2005
  • L’arabe parlé à Mardin. Monographie d’un parler arabe “périphérique”, Editura Universitatii din Bucuresti, 2007 [1]
“L'arabe parlé à Mardin”, by George Grigore
“L'arabe parlé à Mardin”, by George Grigore

[edit] External links

  • A bibliography of George Grigore's works in Ioana Feodorov, The Arab World in the Romanian Culture [2]
  • The Chair of Oriental Languages, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, University of Bucharest [3]
  • The Conference The Qur'an: Text, Interpretation & Translation, The School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London [4]
  • Conference on Communication and Information Structure in Spoken Arabic, University of Maryland [5]
  • First International Symposium on Mardin History [6]
  • Arab Studies at the University of Bucharest: 50 Years [7]
  • The Qur’an translated into Romanian by George Grigore [8]