"expuesto en la casa de"

Question

What is the best (and most polite) way to translate the following phrase taken from a 1799 christening record: "bautisé á un niño de padres no conocidos, expuesto en la casa de su madrina María Guadalupe Basques, a quién adbertí su obligación y parentesco espiritual". My problem is finding a good way to translate "expuesto" in this context. The expression is not an isolated instance, but occurs very frequently in the old records. I don't care if the translation is not very exact, as long as it expresses the general idea in a gentle manner.

Answer 1

• List item

Expuesto = En este caso quiere decir "viviendo en"

Thank you. Just the answer I needed. - stuartarms, Dec 3, 2011

Answer 2

Hello Stuartarms,

In this case, the word expuesto (from the verb "exponer") means abandoned. The context is the first clue: bautisé á un niño de padres no conocidos, expuesto en la casa de su madrina.

The second clue is that the lady who found the baby was reminded to baptize him. It was su obligación y parentesco espiritual.

Since she wasn't the mother, she became the godmotherof the child. The baby was abandoned on her door steps or in her house: en la casa de su madrina.

Here is a definition of "exponer" from the RAE dictionary: Abandonar a un niño recién nacido a la puerta de una iglesia, o de una casa, o en un lugar público.

Su servidor, Carhl

perfect! - 005faa61, Dec 3, 2011

Answer 3

Thank you. I didn't know exponer can mean to abandon. Babies were often abandoned in the manner you described. Another scenario was when a family member or friend had an illegitimate child (sometimes rape was involved) and, to avoid embarrassment, the family quietly adopted the baby without revealing details. In this case, I found circumstantial evidence for the biological parents - a very young couple who married 18 months later. And - no surprise - the young couple was known to the family.