El Capitán Veneno. Pedro Antonio de AlarcónЧитать онлайн книгу.
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184
la primera vez de su vida, the first time in his life; so in Alarcón often: first tears, first smile, last time in his life, and others.
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carne de perro: a compliment about like strong as a horse. The doctor falls into the captain's style.
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matasanos, killer of well men: humorous here, but a common type: cf. curaperros, quitasol, parasol, sacamuelas (dentist), perdona-vidas (bully), picaporte. All like our pick-pocket, turnkey, cureall, forget-me-not.
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Cuando salga, When I get out: there is hardly a word that occurs oftener with the present subjunctive than cuando.
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todo un hombre, a whole man: cf. toda una obra maestra, a real masterpiece; todo un capitán, a real captain.
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¡Cuidado si tiene hígados para remendar cuerpos rotos!It's a caution what a nerve you have for mending broken bodies: cuidado has become a disguised oath (for emphasis) with its k sound; cf. ¡Cuidado si está el chico que da gloria verlo!I'll declare the little fellow is a fine sight.Niño de la Bola, p. 174. Cf. also ¡Cuidado que aquel dichoso año hizo calor!That blessed year was plenty hot enough!Viva el Papa, p. 43. It is a year that I have been grumbling about an overcoat, y cuidado que me hace falta, and gracious how awfully I need it. Núñez.¡Cuidado que a mí me encantan Horacio y Virgilio y los Gracos y…!I do like H. and V… though. Valera, Cartas Americanas, p. 92.
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había oído citar, had heard some one mention.
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al cabecilla, the leader (cabeza): grammar gender and sex go together when speaking of persons: so el cura, el corneta, unos canallas, some scamps.
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Era de notar, It was noticeable: cf. es de ver, it is worth seeing.
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el pícaro de D. Jorge, that rogue Don Jorge: so English, that dog of a landlord; but Spanish uses a substantivized adjective so, e.g. la necia de mi tía, my silly aunt. Common.
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que ha: after a relative the verb could be the first person he, as in older English (e.g. who art in heaven).
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por hacer, because it was.
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Si fuera, If you were (but you are not) … habíamos, we should have to…. Note here and in the following two speeches the condition (si-clause) and the conclusion (with the imperfect indicative or the conditional). Angustias: Si yo fuese hombre, me reiría… seríamos. El Capitán: siendo usted hombre, yo no llegaría… le propondría… So si fuese = si fuera = si era = siendo = a ser = de ser = si es, all forms the condition might take.
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mocosilla, snotnose: Jorge is not trying to be elegant; not an uncommon word. Spanish uses a moco tendido, tragar saliva, and many such phrases that we avoid. Moratín (père) uses the word moco freely. Victor Hugo calls the starry skies God's spittle.
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puesta en sus puntos, very correct and proper, as though cut to a pattern.
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hago: this is as near as Spanish comes to our do as an auxiliary. Agradecer and sonreír are infinitives in apposition with the phrase lo que yo hago, what I do: say thank you and smile. Cf. ¿Qué hizo? – Lo mismo que su merced: reírse a todo trapo.What did he do? – The same as you: laugh with all his might. Alarcón, La Buenaventura, p. 4.
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cocodrilo, crocodile: the eager student can find abundant examples in Spanish (and English, too) where r has changed its position in the word: bergante (brigand), propósito (purpose), corbata (cravat).
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respuesta no la: the pronoun is regularly given after a noun (object) standing before the verb; but cf. the rhetorical ¡Rubor me causa hablar…, It makes me blush to speak…, 97, 25.
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mismísimos diablos: just a new kind of emphasis, not parlor language even in Spanish, where oaths are so common as to be largely colorless.
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Conozco, I see, perceive: an inchoative here.
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en mitad for en medio, and so, like medio, it has no article. We meet mitad sordo, mitad artista, half deaf, half artist.
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Casino de mi alma, my darling Casino: a parallel English (Irish) expression is Peg o' my heart.
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de on account of días: noun needs de before its descriptive infinitive; cf. noches de no dormir.
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embozo, covers (at the head): cf. verb embozarse, to wrap up neck and face.
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sobre otra (silla), on another (chair): not one leg over the other.
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sillón-cama: the adjective element last, as in vagón-cama, bed-wagon, sleeping-car.
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enfermos como los sanos, the sick the same as the well: the meaning and order for us is: the well the same as the sick.
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confianza y benevolencia que ya le merecía, the confidence and goodwill which she (la señora) had already won from him: verbs that formerly governed various cases have been leveled down to the construction of dar, and take a dative and an accusative (or direct and indirect object); so pagar, comprar, agradecer, oír (oírle las razones, hear his reasons), llamar (llamarle la atención).
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la, it: the usual feminine for our indefinite it: let it go; now you've done it.
