Help to translate this sentence from Don Quijote.

Question

i was quite confused when i was reading Don Quijote about the following sentence can someone help me translate it one by one thanks .

1. List item

Non fuyan las vuestras mercedes , ni teman desaguisado alguno ; ca a la orden de caballeria que profeso non toca ni atañe facerle a ninguno? cuanda mas a tan altas doncellas como vuestras presencias demuestran.

Answer 1

Hi, songleishiyu!

Bueno, primero vamos a traducirla a español estándar... a ver si esto ayuda

No huyan, no tienen nada que temer; que soy un caballero y no me gusta hacerle daño a nadie? en especial cuando se trata de doncellas tan gentiles como ustedes...

Non huyan (las vuestras mercedes--> thou,) , ni teman (desaguisado--> mess) alguno ; que a a la orden de caballeria (que profeso --> to which I belong) no toca ni (atañe-->appertain) hacerle (a) ninguno? cuanto más a tan altas doncellas como vuestras presencias demuestran.

Cogumela, you're brilliant, I can read it now! I vote for your good effort. - annierats, Nov 13, 2011

No merit at all, annie. I've been speaking Spanish all my life :) - cogumela, Nov 13, 2011

i ca understand it now thanks , - songleishiyulin, Nov 13, 2011

Answer 2

I'm sure someone will be able to help you. That someone isn't me

Just remember that translating Miguel de Cervantes is like translating Shakespeare into Spanish. They were in fact contemporaries and both languages at the time were quite different from modern language.