第一個印刷版本的《一千零一夜》,並非阿拉伯文,而是法國東方學家、古物學家安托万·加朗於1704至1717年間出版的法文譯本(Mille et une nuits)。加朗的版本依據的主要是敍利亞手稿,但他自由地刪改原文,以配合當時的文學口味與道德尺度。加朗的版本一紙風行,歐洲各國的出版商紛紛據此轉譯、改寫,推出各種語言的《一千零一夜》。
由於「布拉克本」和「第二加爾各答本」所收的故事最多,百多年來各地的翻譯者多以這兩版本作為翻譯的文本。19世紀較為名的西方譯本,要數英國探險家、翻譯家伯頓爵士的16冊「全譯本」(A Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights' Entertainments, Now Entituled The Book of The Thousand Nights and a Night),這個譯本包括大量以至過量的情慾描寫,跟同時代的保守版本大為不同。伯頓的譯筆誇張,愛用古詞兼自鑄偉詞,字裡行間極力營造異國情調。評論家幾乎眾口一辭,將伯頓譯本評為不忍卒讀,唯阿根廷作家博爾赫士對伯頓本另眼相看,加以讚賞[15]。
在象徵派詩歌鼻祖斯特凡·马拉梅的鼓勵下,生於開羅的法國醫生兼文人馬爾迪魯斯(Joseph Charles Mardrus)重譯了《一千零一夜》,於1898至1904年間出版,這個版本收錄的故事比加朗的多得多,而且保留了所有情慾的描寫,以「足本」、「原味本」自居,得到同代文人如安德烈·紀德的大力推崇。然而,後世論者指出,馬爾迪魯斯不只隨意刪改原文,而且他的阿拉伯文水準壓根就不行,錯譯、死譯的地方比比皆是[16]。
1984年,哈佛的阿拉伯文教授馬哈迪(Muhsin Mahdi),將上述的14世紀敍利亞手稿校定出版(Alf Layla wa Layla, Leiden),為求盡忠於原稿,甚至不加標點與變音符號。1990年,巴格達出生的哈達維(Husain Haddawy)根據這個「古本」譯出新的英文本;2001年,法國的卡瓦姆(René R Khawam)根據藏在巴黎的敍利亞手稿,譯出全新的四冊本;2004年,德國的奧特(Claudia Ott)也根據馬哈迪的版本譯出了新的《一千零一夜》。
Wa-laqad nadimtu 'alá tafaraqi thamlinā :: Dahran wa-fāḍa ad-dam'u min ajfānī Wa-nadhartu in 'āda az-zamānu yalumanā :: la 'udtu adhkuru furqatan bilisānī Hajama as-sarūru 'alayya ḥatá adhdhahu :: min faraṭi mā saranī ankānī Yā 'aynu ṣāra ad-dam'u minki sijyatan :: tankīna min faraḥin wa-'aḥzānī
字译:
And I have regretted the separation of our companionship :: An eon, and tears flooded my eyes And I've sworn if time brought us back together :: I'll never utter any separation with my tongue Joy conquered me to the point of :: which it made me happy that I cried Oh eye, the tears out of you became a principle :: You cry out of joy and out of sadness
波顿诗韵翻译:
Long, long have I bewailed the sev'rance of our loves, With tears that from my lids streamed down like burning rain And vowed that, if the days deign reunite us two, My lips should never speak of severance again: Joy hath o'erwhelmed me so that, for the very stress Of that which gladdens me to weeping I am fain. Tears are become to you a habit, O my eyes, So that ye weep as well for gladness as for pain.
^ 1.01.1Marzolph, Ulrich. Arabian Nights. Kate Fleet; Gudrun Krämer; Denis Matringe; John Nawas; Everett Rowson (编). Encyclopaedia of Islam 3rd. 2007. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_0021. Arabian Nights, the work known in Arabic as Alf layla wa-layla
^Marzolph, Arabian Nights, Encyclopaedia of Islam I, Leiden: Brill, 2007.
^John Payne, Alaeddin and the Enchanted Lamp and Other Stories, (London 1901) gives details of Galland's encounter with 'Hanna' in 1709 and of the discovery in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris of two Arabic manuscripts containing Aladdin and two more of the added tales. Text of "Alaeddin and the enchanted lamp"
Haddawy, Husain (1990). The Arabian Nights; Based on the Text of the Fourteenth-Century Syrian Manuscript. New York: Norton Company.
Irwin, Robert (1994). The Arabian Nights: a Companion. London: Allen Lane.
Khawam, René R(2001). Les Mille et une nuits. Paris: Phébus.
Ott, Claudia (2004). Tausendundeine Nacht. nach der ältesten arabischen Handschrift in der Ausg. von Muhsin Mahdi erstmals ins Dt. übertr. München: Beck.