“Filled with water, you are still thirsty”: Semantics of the sea in the mathnavis of ‘Attar

Abstract

The paper deals with the concept of sea in mathnavi — poems of a mystical and didactic nature by Farid ad-Din ‘Attar, a Persian Suf poet (XII–XIII centuries). Four poems with established authorship are considered. A synonymic row consisting of four lexemes with the meaning ‘sea', ‘ocean' has been analyzed: daryā, baḥr, qulzum, muḥīṭ. The paper focuses on direct and fgurative meanings of words portraying the sea's attributes, as well as on comparisons and metaphors, and parables based on those. It also shows the means that allow the author to use all the metaphorical potential of the notion of the sea in order to discuss tenets of the Suf doctrine and particularities of Suf meditative practice.