Sea vuestra merced servido

[Tyrn]

Hi,

—Sea vuestra merced servido, señor don Quijote mío, de darme el gobierno de la ínsula que en esta rigurosa pendencia se ha ganado, que, por grande que sea, yo me siento con fuerzas de saberla gobernar tal y tan bien como otro que haya gobernado ínsulas en el mundo.

Who is servido here, and why?

[Rusty]

'Vuestra merced' refers to a person, even though it is often translated as 'your grace', 'your honor', 'your mercy', etc. A translation that might fit better, time-period-wise, is 'my lord'. I am certain there are several more good translations out there.

At any rate, the person doing the hailing wishes or desires that the gentleman be served.

[Tyrn]

I know about vuestra merced and the general meaning. I'm wondering about the sea servido grammar :thinking:

[Rusty]

Be (thou) served.
Be your grace served. (May we all serve thee.)

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

It's an archaic formula.

Nowadays we would say "sírvase usted, don Quijote, darme el gobierno..."
In this case, it's a formal polite way to ask someone to do something.

- Sírvase, señor, recibir este dinero como gratificación por sus años de servicio a la empresa.
Sir, please take this money as a reward for your years of service to our company.
- Por medio de la presente le ruego se sirva llevar a cabo las acciones pertinentes para evitar que en el futuro ingresen personas sin autorización a las instalaciones de la fábrica.
By means of this letter, I'm asking you to kindly take the necessary actions to avoid future trespassing by unauthorized people to the plant premises.
- Le fue solicitado mediante oficio que se sirviera no librar servicio a las empresas competidoras.
By means of an official letter, you were asked not to offer services to our competitors.