El Capitán Veneno
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179
consentido en: consentir takes en, con, a, and sometimes sobre, with different senses.
180
que tengas: omitted in 10th edition.
181
Mejor que mejor, Better and better: so peor que peor, dale que dale, etc., where the much used que is only an emphatic y, and; cf. éranse que se eran, 5, 1.
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permitiese: -se and -ra forms are still used in wishes [like exclamations]; cf. Así nos diera Dios grandes políticos, Oh, that God would give us great politicians! Diario II, 272. ¡Diérame Dios el numen de Tasso! Oh, that God would give me Tasso's inspiration! Diario I, 320. ¡O Absalom! ¡Quién diera que hubiera yo muerto en lugar de ti! Oh, that I had died for thee! Bible. In Job 3: 1-9 are many examples in Valera's text: these are changed to present subjunctive in the Mexican edition of 1910. -se forms not so often: ¡Fuese ya mañana y estuviésemos en la batalla! Amadís, in Bello-Cuervo, § 701. ¡Quien me diese que me creyeseis! Oh that you would believe me! Ibid. Cf. also the familiar ¡Acabaras! to a child, Hush up!
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Angustias: he omits señorita this time.
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.
185
carne de perro: a compliment about like strong as a horse. The doctor falls into the captain's style.
186
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.
188
todo un hombre, a whole man: cf. toda una obra maestra, a real masterpiece; todo un capitán, a real captain.
189
¡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.
197
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.
198
puesta en sus puntos, very correct and proper, as though cut to a pattern.
199
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.
200
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.
204
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.
209
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.
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santa: euphemism again; the whole blessed night.
214
impenitente: the 10th edition has impertinente.
215
no… ya, no longer.
216
doblemos = volvamos, let us turn.
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arrepentida, repentant: -ido forms often have -ing sense: dormido, sleeping; colgado, hanging; sufrido, patient; callado, silent. The changed meaning is often only apparent, as in agradecido, grateful; complacido, pleasant. Sometimes the sense is little different between the past and present participles, e.g. hung on the wall or hanging on the wall.
218
que le he oído cantar, I have heard you sing; hacerme decir, make me say; se dejó fusilar, let himself get shot; notice that in the first, le is the object of oído; in the second, -me is the object of hacer; but in the last, se is the object of fusilar.
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caramba: this is the commonest oath = heavens; it expresses surprise or anger in various degrees, and often is virtually colorless.
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Peripecia, Sudden Change in the Situation; mudanza repentina de situación, Diccionario de la Academia.