The Spanish word "hincaba".

Question

I am trying to read a real book in Spanish for the first time (El León, La Bruja y El Ropero). I have run into a word that I just can't figure out and what I get from the dictionary is not helping. The sentence is...

Un instante después advirtió que lo que rozaba su cara ya no era suave como la piel sino duro, áspero e, incluso, hincaba.

I have figured out: An instant later she noticed that what rubbed her face was no longer soft like the furs but hard, tough, and, even, ...

The dictionary here suggests the verb "to stick, to sink, or to stare." Google suggests, "to kneel." The full sentence translations here suggest "kiss" and "driving." One of them just leaves the word as hincaba. I think it should be another adjective like hard or tough (duro, áspero). Is this an obscure word? The book is for young people, so I assumed that the vocabulary and grammar would not be too complex.

Answer 1

"Hincaba" is not an adjective, es el pretérito imperfecto del verbo "Hincar". A mí ahí me suena raro. Yo hubiera escrito: "...ya no era suave como la piel sino duro, áspero e, incluso, pinchaba (pretérito imperfecto del verbo pinchar)"

Saludos.

Answer 2

¿Hincaba? From what I know, it's: Un instante después advirtió que lo que rozaba su cara ya no era suave como la piel, sino duro, áspero e incluso clavaba. ¿Cómo? ¡Parecen ramas de árboles!- exclamó. Algo frío y suave caía sobre la niña.

Answer 3

It is a funny word. In English, words that end in -ly are almost always adverbs:

He ran quickly. He talked softly. He walked slowly.

But, in English, prickly certainly seems to be an adjective to me:

The prickly porcupine climbed up the tree. The prickly weed poked my finger.

Maybe the translator just couldn't come up with a word that worked better? If I put those sentences into google translate, it suggests, "espinoso."

El puercoespín espinoso subió al árbol.

Answer 4

I forgot I had an English copy of this book on my shelf. It appears that the word means, "prickly."

Also, looking at the English version, there are some places where the wording is changed a lot. Is this typical in reading translated books?

For example, the Spanish version says: Por lo demás, estamos bastante cómodos y tenemos un montón de libros. This same sentence in the English version is: And in the meantime, we're pretty well off. There's a wireless and lots of books.

The Spanish version omits the mention of the radio. Not a big deal, just curious.