...negando por lo bajo ...I find all the words, but still do not really understand.

Question

I would like to understand what is happening in the sentence quoted here from La sombra del viento -- Or perhaps I should express it this way: what did my protagonists see?

Vimos pasar a varios commerciantes azorados, negando por lo bajo.

I have looked up all the words. For example, I now recognize that the shop keepers going by my hero's father's bookstore were alarmed, upset, flustered, - but surely not "excited", (yet another meaning for azorado), in this context.

I even found an entry in the © HarperCollins 2009 Español-Inglés dictionary for "por lo bajo" (my Gran Diccionario Oxford disappointed me:-()

entry number 10 -- por lo bajo (= a lo menos) at (the) least

And of course I read each and every entry in all these dictionaries for "negar".

Nonetheless, the sentence baffles me.....Do I need to provide more context, or is this perfectly clear to some one of you?

Answer 1

It generally means denying something quietly, so as not to be noticed.

A number of flustered merchants went by, denying it under their breath

might be a translation, but of couse I don't know the full context.

J

Answer 2

I agree some with Jeremias... but I also thinks it means to 'complaining quietly"

Vimos pasar a varios commerciantes azorados, negando por lo bajo. Vimos pasar a varios comerciantes enfadados, escondiendo/disimulando/ocultando el enfado.

Negar: denegar, prohibir, vedar. ocultar disimular

That is interesting marilo. Puedo preguntarte, de donde eres? - Jeremias, Sep 23, 2010

Answer 3

Well first of all, it's "comerciantes", one "m". As for the meaning, "por lo bajo" means in a quiet voice, when you don't want anyone else to know what you are saying, only the people (or person) you are talking to. "Negar por lo bajo" seems to imply that the shop keepers were shaking their heads in disapproval, or perhaps complaining quietly among them.

Answer 4

Oh this is wonderful...all the answers. And a correction ("comerciantes", thank you, Billstpor)

I understand! - Those "comerciantes" were sort of "..tsk, tsking"..under their breath, hardly believing what they had just seen themselves!

By the way, with regard to context, what they had seen was the return of the local watchmaker, a well respected shopkeeper himself, and harmless enough after hours, but perhaps "mariposón". He had been jailed overnight by a very mean, probably evil inspector, locked up, maltreated and dumped home - But indeed, ....more as a warning to my hero and his father than because the poor bloke had done anyone any harm. After all, the shopkeepers will have thought, everyone already knew all about him.

Yes, I am sure I understand the meaning now, although I would be hard pressed to give a best translation. Translators really are artists in their own right!

I even think I understand why I did not understand before. My Gran Diccionario Oxford did not fail me at all. In fact it did well, perhaps, not to mislead me by listing the meaning I found in Harper Collins and supposed was correct for "por lo bajo".

Which brings up an interesting question: When would one use "por lo bajo" in the sense listed by Harper Collins?

por lo bajo (=a lo menos) at (the) least

For example when you are talking about the minimum amount you think something may have cost: "esta cena ha debido de costar 150 euros por lo bajo". - bill1111, Sep 23, 2010