What is a "brecha DE colmenas"
I have been working on understanding what might be the right way to understand this sentence from La sombra del viento (page 106 in the edition I am reading).
Joaquín Costa caía como una brecha de colmenas ennegrecidas fundiéndose en las tinieblas del Raval.
Raval is a neighborhood in Barcelona. Joaquín Costa is a street there. From my desktop Harper Collins, I gleaned that the eleventh meaning for caier is probably my best bet:
caía:
11) (= estar situado) to be
¿Por dónde cae eso? = Whereabouts is that?
Eso cae más hacia el este. = That lies o is further to the east.
And I know the meaning of brecha. In fact, in one of the word games we play here at Span¡shD!ct.com, I wanted to enter it as a "b" word for its English friend "breach" but never seemed to come around to the site when the "b" was up.
However, I only read examples of "brecha" with "en"; none with "de". I figure that this street is itself a "brecha" in a warren of streets in Raval. But "una brecha de colmenas"??
Perhaps I should understand that this street is itself the warren?
For our members who are not so familiar with this word "warren", by the way, the word (Zool) is usually translated by "madriguera" and we mostly refer to warrens of rabbits in English. But can also use it figuratively to refer to a very crowded zone consisting of mostly rundown or ramshackle structures where people live, too.
Yet I still cannot make this ¿¿"brecha de colmenas" ?? out even thinking out loud as I am doing here.
Any ideas?
3 Answers
I´m not familiar with Barcelona streets, but I´ve been in that neighbourhood and this is what I think:
Joaquín Costa caía como una brecha de colmenas ennegrecidas fundiéndose en las tinieblas del Raval.
brecha as a narrow alley, colmenas as in buildings swarming with apartments and people; ennegrecidas because of smoke, or because it was getting dark
caia in the sense that the street ended in the darkness of Raval, or it was getting dark too. Or that it was a gap between Raval and other part of the town, imposing its presence, or that it goes down to Raval and the the sea.
So, a possible translation would be something like:
Joaquin Costa flowed down like a row of blackened beehives fading into the darkness of Raval
(maybee wrong, but I like it)
..hmmmm...Thank you, mediterunio, for pointing out that "brecha" probably means "alley" here. That certainly makes sense and would clarify using "brecha" with "de".
I am a bit disappointed that none of the dictionaries I consulted (two hardcover, the others online) offered alley as a translation for brecha. Nor did I understand that from this entry in the RAE:
brecha(1st meaning).
(Del fr. brèche, y este del franco breka, roto; cf. a. al. ant. brëhhan).
1) f. Rotura o abertura irregular, especialmente en una pared o muralla.
2) f. Rotura de un frente de combate.
3) f. Resquicio por donde algo empieza a perder su seguridad. Hacer brecha en algo.
4) f. Herida, especialmente en la cabeza
But I think I might now be allowed to understand and would prefer to use "warren" for the combination with "colmenas" in this context because we would use that word in such a sense in English. I must still give this a bit of thought before offering my own translation as a simple reader, new to Spanish. I may even check how the official translator coined this in English. I bought the book in English for my Sister, in German for a few friends, even in Finnish for yet another friend (that edition was hard to find!
But note that I haven't peeked yet!
Joaquín Costa caía como una brecha de colmenas ennegrecidas fundiéndose en las tinieblas del Raval.
It is not an expression I am familiar with (and maybe it is a made up one), but from the context I'd say it is a simile with what it'd happen if a honeycomb got a crack (or breach): all the bees would go out in a killing mood.
I don't know how "¿Por dónde cae?" fits into your original question, but the translation appears to be correct.
