Gustave Doré, the old armor and the nag (1863) · public domain
1.1.26
Don Quixote 1.1.26 · The great-grandfathers’ armor1.1.26The great-grandfathers’ armor
His first practical step: dig out the family armor.
· · ·
Y1
y
And
lo2
lo
the
primero3
pri·ME·ro
first thing
que4
que
that
hizo5
HI·zo
did
fue6
fue
was
limpiar7
lim·PIAR
to clean
unas8
U·nas
some
armas9
AR·mas
armorarms
que10
que
which
habían11
ha·BÍ·an
had
sido12
SI·do
belongedbeen
de13
de
toof
sus14
sus
his
bisabuelos15
bi·sa·BUE·los
great-grandfathers
, que16
que
which
, tomadas17
to·MA·das
eatentaken
de18
de
withby
orín19
o·RÍN
rust
y20
y
and
llenas21
LLE·nas
full
de22
de
of
moho23
MO·ho
mold
, luengos24
LUEN·gos
long
siglos25
SI·glos
agescenturies
había26
ha·BÍ·a
forit had been
que27
que
(that)
estaban28
es·TA·ban
had lainwere
puestas29
PUES·tas
put awayplaced
y30
y
and
olvidadas31
ol·vi·DA·das
forgotten
en32
en
in
un33
un
a
rincón34
rin·CÓN
corner
. And the first thing that he did was to clean some armor which had belonged to his great-grandfathers, which, eaten with rust and full of mold, for long ages had lain put away and forgotten in a corner.
And the first thing that he did was to clean some armor which had belonged to his great-grandfathers, which, eaten with rust and full of mold, for long ages had lain put away and forgotten in a corner.
Interpretation
And the first thing he did was to clean some armor that had belonged to his great-grandfathers, which had lain for ages in a corner, put away and forgotten, eaten with rust and covered in mold.
The armor belongs with the lance on its rack in the first sentence, old things kept by a family that no longer fights. Luengos siglos, “long centuries”, is comic exaggeration, since great-grandfathers reach back about a hundred years. Luengo itself is a romance word, already antique in 1605; the narrator slips into the hero’s style while describing his junk.
Armas in the plural is the whole outfit, the pieces of armor together. Moho is mold today, but older Spanish also used it for the rust and tarnish on metal, which suits a suit of armor in a damp corner.
1.1.27
Don Quixote 1.1.27 · The pasteboard helmet1.1.27The pasteboard helmet
The armor is missing one piece, and he makes it himself.
· · ·
He cleaned them and fixed them up as best he could, but he saw that they had a great flaw, and it was that they had no closed helmet, only a plain morion; but his ingenuity made up for this, because out of pasteboard he made a sort of half helmet, which, fitted onto the morion, gave the look of a whole helmet.