Suddenly, and without preliminaries, the great translator Zuhair Al-Shayeb passed away in 1982 at the age of 47, and he did not translate from the encyclopedia "Description of Egypt" (the sum of observations and research carried out in Egypt during the French campaign) for which he pledged his life only 9 parts out of a total of 38 parts.

The writer Zuhair Al-Shayeb left, and left behind 4 sons, Mona the eldest of them at 12 years old, and 5 years did not pass until the family met its sorrows, and began to complete what the father started, and on the same desk on which the father was sitting, the daughter Mona Zuhair Al-Shayeb sat, and began to translate the rest of the encyclopedia.

On his campaign against Egypt, the French commander Napoleon Bonaparte accompanied a team of scientists in all disciplines to record their observations. After the team returned to France, then-French Interior Minister Jean-Antoine Spatal formed a committee of scientists that collected and published all the scientific material for the campaign, which was completed in 10 volumes.

Encyclopedia of "Description of Egypt" or the sum of observations and research carried out in Egypt during the French campaign (Al Jazeera)

Nearly two centuries after the French campaign, the friends of translator and journalist Zuhair al-Shayeb could not believe that little Mona was translating parts of an encyclopedia that state institutions failed to translate, so Zuhair al-Shayeb confronted her, and his daughter completed it after him.

The professor at the Faculty of Archeology, Cairo University, Dr. Mona Zuhair Al-Shayeb, narrated the details of her translation of the encyclopedia in the interview conducted by Al Jazeera Net, to the dialogue:

  • Zuhair Al-Shayeb tackled the translation of the encyclopedia "Description of Egypt", and this is like an adventure, what prompted him to do so? What are your memories of that period?

My father decided to translate the encyclopedia "Description of Egypt" after the failed attempt to translate it by one of the cultural bodies, and he translated the first 4 parts and published them at his own expense, I remember that he used to come with the printed parts, and my brothers and I would pack them in plastic bags in order to preserve them, and then he would take them to distribute them to publishers and booksellers, so he would translate and supervise printing, and review the parts before printing them, and then distribute, a superstitious effort that only a large institution can do, he did it alone.

After printing these parts, the state honored my father, and President Sadat awarded him the Order of Science and Arts of the first class, and here publishers began to pay attention to the importance of the encyclopedia.

I started translating at the age of 17, and I doubled my efforts at the age of 18 thanks to my mother, a writer and writer of children's stories, who gave all her effort and time and spared nothing in order to prepare me and prepare me for the weight of the French language.

  • We know that your father faced a lot of problems and obstacles while doing this hard work, do you still remember it?

The road was not easy and paved in front of my father, he faced a lot of stubbornness and persecution in his life, and was harbored by his superiors at work, hatred and jealousy of his success, and he did not pay much attention to conflicts and scramble for the material and positions, and was only concerned with his family and provide a decent life for them, and he is only concerned with the duty of translating the encyclopedia, and it happened that one of his colleagues caused him a difficult situation at the time that he traveled to work in an Arab country, he was very sad because of him and led to a heart attack that took his life while he was in The prime of his youth.

  • After your father's death, when did you start translating the encyclopedia? And how old were you then?

I started translation at the age of 17 years, and I doubled the effort at the age of 18 thanks to my mother, a writer and writer of stories for children, I made all her effort and time and did not skimp on anything in order to prepare me and prepare me for the weight of the French language, and after secondary I submitted my papers to the Faculty of Archeology, Cairo University, until I complete the translation of the rest of the encyclopedia, and the study of archeology benefited me a lot in translating the parts of the architecture, description and names of kings in ancient Egypt.

  • Was the translation of the encyclopedia a will from the father to the family?

My translation of the encyclopedia was not my father's will, because he died suddenly at an early age when I was 12 years old, but it is an inheritance, we are a family that inherited "the description of Egypt" with what we inherited from the morals of my father and his good reputation, and from the beginning we considered the family of Zuhair Al-Shayeb "the family of describing Egypt" as I always say, none of us had an objection, and we all agreed to complete the journey of Zuhair Al-Shayeb in translating the encyclopedia of describing Egypt, and we considered it a member of the family.

When my mother did not find any help from state institutions to support her in completing the translation, I founded Dar "Al-Shayeb" for publishing the encyclopedia, and sharpened our enthusiasm for the success of the house, until the Book Authority (governmental) realized the importance of what we do to translate and publish the encyclopedia, and the Commission agreed to print the encyclopedia, so I was translating, and the Book Commission was publishing and distributing.

  • Have you translated and published the entire encyclopedia, or are there parts that have not been translated or unpublished?

The encyclopedia had a special part of the diseases that the soldiers of the French campaign contracted during their stay in Egypt, and this medical study made a great effort until I finished it, but the book body did not publish it, and considered it not important to publish it.

My love for the Arabic language made the wording consistent with the new language so that the reader feels that the parts of the encyclopedia are closer to authorship than to translation.

  • But how did you overcome the old French language in which the encyclopedia was written more than two hundred years ago?

Translation was not difficult because God granted me a queen in translation that I inherited from my father, so I used to translate without hardship or fatigue, and I am good at drafting very simply, and my love for the Arabic language made the wording consistent with the new language, so that the reader feels that the parts of the encyclopedia are closer to authorship than to translation.

I used to translate during my university studies, intensify translation during vacations, and two months before the exams I focus all my effort in studying, attend all lectures, and won first place in my class, and was appointed immediately after graduating as a teaching assistant at the Faculty of Archeology.

  • Didn't your interests as a young girl distract you from translation and its problems?

I never thought that translation could disrupt my career as a young girl, but we all had a sense that we had a legacy to do, a duty to do, so I found it fun to translate, so translation, like writing my thoughts and thoughts, was very easy and easy.

The translation of the encyclopedia did not affect my family and family future, I lived my family life among my brothers, and I got married and gave birth like any girl happy with her life and her achievement, and when I see the parts of the encyclopedia with their large number in front of me, I feel that I have performed a duty that was really on me, and I did not fall short in the right of my family and my country, and unlike the encyclopedia I have many translations at the National Center for Translation from French and English.

  • What is your assessment of the encyclopedia of description of Egypt after completing its translation?

The encyclopedia is unparalleled in the whole world, it has not been addressed the conditions of any country in this detail as the scientists of the French campaign dealt with the description of Egypt in all walks of life, with all this love and devotion, and for this we find an integrated encyclopedia that includes all the different sciences, and for this its fame spread the world.

  • Was the translation of the encyclopedia an obstacle to excellence in your academic discipline?

On the contrary, after I finished translating the encyclopedia, I did not stop and did not say this is enough for me, but I completed archaeological studies that are considered important studies in this field, and completed 14 studies in which new scientific discoveries in the field of specialization "archeology and astronomy among the ancient Egyptians".

He proved that the ancient Egyptian was the first to use the solar sundial, and the first to reach the observation of comets, not the Chinese civilization, which was about a thousand years after the ancient Egyptian civilization, and the ancient Egyptian was the first to observe solar eclipses and lunar eclipses, and the first to identify star groups, and placed them in planets that are easy to study.

  • What honors have you been given by the state for your translation efforts? Have other countries such as France honored you?

I did not receive any honors from France or others, as some claim, and the state did not honor me, despite the translations I have done that served the Arabic language and culture, and if I apply for state awards, I am confronted with the saying "the conditions do not apply to you" under the pretext that I have produced more prolific than what is required, or that what I have produced is not in the required field.

Years passed, and the argument became that production should not pass two years and 5 years at most, and if the state honors some for writing or translating a book, is it not better to honor those who translated an encyclopedia as large as an encyclopedia describing Egypt?

  • How many French campaign scientists participated in the encyclopedia? And what was their life like in Egypt after they returned to France?

The number of scientists of the French campaign in various scientific, artistic and literary fields and disciplines reached 165 scientists, and some said that they were 151 scientists, who represented the basis of the Egyptian Scientific Academy, and among the most famous scientists of the French campaign are the famous mathematician Mong Bertolet Devillier, Du Bois Aimé Jomar Fourier, and the Comte de Chabrol.

Many of these scientists died as a result of the war, as a result of the diseases that killed them, and as a result of the extreme heat to which they were not accustomed in their country.

Before the departure of the soldiers of the French campaign from Egypt, Britain confronted them and required them to leave their research in exchange for allowing them to leave Egypt to France, but the French scientists refused to take the research from them, and threatened to throw it into the sea if forced to do so, and in front of this insistence England agreed, and allowed them to go out with their research.

  • When was the first edition of the encyclopedia published in France and Egypt?

بعد عودة الحملة إلى فرنسا استغرق العمل في هذه الأبحاث 17 عاما من تصنيف وتهذيب واستخلاص الدراسات المهمة، لكي توضع في كتاب "وصف مصر" بأجزائه التي بلغت 38 جزءا كما جاء في الطبعة الثانية.

وطبعها الفرنسيون مرتين: الطبعة الأولى وتسمى طبعة الإمبراطورية، وصدرت أول أجزائها عام 1809، أما الطبعة الثانية فقد ظهرت عام 1921 في 26 مجلدا، بالإضافة إلى 11 مجلدا للوحات وأطلس جغرافي، ويطلقون عليها طبعة بانكوك.

وأما عن طبعات موسوعة "وصف مصر" باللغة العربية، فقد صدرت الأجزاء الأربعة الأولى على نفقة المترجم زهير الشايب، وصدر الجزء الأول لأول مرة في مصر عام 1976.