This site uses cookies. Some of these cookies are essential to the operation of the site, while others help to improve your experience by providing insights into how the site is being used. For more information, please see the ProZ.com privacy policy.
Cookie settings
  1. KudoZ™ Top
  2. Spanish to English
  3. Agriculture

tumbas

English translation: clearings

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Spanish term or phrase:tumbas
English translation:clearings
Entered by: Charles Davis

09:36 Feb 25, 2011
Spanish to English translations [PRO]
Agriculture / sugar farming in Cuba, 19th century. academic paper
Spanish term or phrase: tumbas
Here are 3 egs of this term in the text. I have been able to find the terms "tala, tumba y quema" and "rozar, tumbar y quemar" in parallel texts on sugar cultivation. These expressions appear to be the equivalent of "slash and burn agriculture", but I am not convinced that the use of "tumbas" in this paper corresponds to this concept.

1. Con la incorporación de las máquinas de vapor se comienza una etapa de maduración de esta tecnología al utilizar carbón mineral y se reduce la tala de bosques, pero esto no implica que no se requiriera de mayores desmontes para aprovechar la fertilidad de las tumbas en el cultivo de la caña.
2. Sin embargo, esta mejora no eliminó la práctica de la siembra en tumbas, por lo que aumentó la presión sobre el bosque en la búsqueda de nuevas tierras no explotadas
3. Las tierras que antes estaban formadas por bosques, sabanas de pasto y áreas de cultivo o subdivisiones de ingenios se destinaron exclusivamente a cañaverales o potreros para las boyadas, pero la expansión azucarera siguió dependiendo de la fertilidad de las tumbas.
Thanks for any suggestions.
anya doherty
Chile
Local time: 19:48
clearings
Explanation:
"Tumba" is also the act of clearing land for sugar cultivation:
eg. "Este prohibía la tumba de montes altos con el objetivo de sembrar cañaverales..." (and many more similar instances of "tumba")
De bosque a sabana: azúcar, deforestación y medio ambiente en Cuba, 1492-1926 By Reinaldo Funes Monzote
http://books.google.es/books?id=ygTiu0KQhMgC&pg=PA94&lpg=PA9...

"Clearing (tumba)
Deforestation of wooded terrain to plant cane or other crops"
From Rainforest to Cane Field in Cuba, p. 330
http://www.amazon.com/Rainforest-Cane-Field-Cuba-Environment...

But "tumbas" are also areas of land where the sugar is grown:
"Desde mediados del siglo XIX Reynoso (citado por Cuéllar y col., 2003), alertó sobre este negativo proceso: ....'las tumbas, tan feraces al principio, al cabo de cierto número de cultivos, pierden en mayor o menor grado su poder productor y las cañas que en ellas se desarrollan, vegetan con un vigor relativo a la descomposición del suelo. A la segunda o tercera vez de sembrar la caña, la fertilidad del terreno había desaparecido'."
http://www.inica.minaz.cu/trabajos/40ANIVERSARIO/tec/t27.htm

This is the meaning in your context: land cleared (deforested) for sugar cultivation. So: clearings:

"Clearing: A tract of land within a wood or other overgrown area from which trees and other obstructions have been removed."
American Heritage Dictionary
http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/cleari...
Selected response from:

Charles Davis
Spain
Local time: 01:48
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +3clearings
Charles Davis
4felling of timber, clearing of ground, ground cleared for sowing
fitzsimmons
4cleared ground
Barbara Cochran, MFA
Summary of reference entries provided
franglish

  

Answers


44 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
"tumbas"
felling of timber, clearing of ground, ground cleared for sowing


Explanation:
it´s the Colloins Dictionary definition.

From the text I take it to mean cleared or deforrested ground used in planting

fitzsimmons
Local time: 01:48
Native speaker of: English
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

52 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
"tumbas"
clearings


Explanation:
"Tumba" is also the act of clearing land for sugar cultivation:
eg. "Este prohibía la tumba de montes altos con el objetivo de sembrar cañaverales..." (and many more similar instances of "tumba")
De bosque a sabana: azúcar, deforestación y medio ambiente en Cuba, 1492-1926 By Reinaldo Funes Monzote
http://books.google.es/books?id=ygTiu0KQhMgC&pg=PA94&lpg=PA9...

"Clearing (tumba)
Deforestation of wooded terrain to plant cane or other crops"
From Rainforest to Cane Field in Cuba, p. 330
http://www.amazon.com/Rainforest-Cane-Field-Cuba-Environment...

But "tumbas" are also areas of land where the sugar is grown:
"Desde mediados del siglo XIX Reynoso (citado por Cuéllar y col., 2003), alertó sobre este negativo proceso: ....'las tumbas, tan feraces al principio, al cabo de cierto número de cultivos, pierden en mayor o menor grado su poder productor y las cañas que en ellas se desarrollan, vegetan con un vigor relativo a la descomposición del suelo. A la segunda o tercera vez de sembrar la caña, la fertilidad del terreno había desaparecido'."
http://www.inica.minaz.cu/trabajos/40ANIVERSARIO/tec/t27.htm

This is the meaning in your context: land cleared (deforested) for sugar cultivation. So: clearings:

"Clearing: A tract of land within a wood or other overgrown area from which trees and other obstructions have been removed."
American Heritage Dictionary
http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/cleari...

Charles Davis
Spain
Local time: 01:48
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 135
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  neilmac: Keeping it simple:)
58 mins
  -> Cheers, Neil :)
agree  FVS (X): http://www.inica.minaz.cu/Reynoso/desmonte.htm
3 hrs
  -> Thanks, FVS :) And for the reference too: very useful.
agree  Claudia Luque Bedregal: Yes, this is it :) Have a nice weekend!
6 hrs
  -> Thanks very much, Claudia. Same to you :)
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

4 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
"tumbas"
cleared ground


Explanation:
HTH

Barbara Cochran, MFA
United States
Local time: 19:48
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 24
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)




Reference comments


15 mins
Reference

Reference information:
The machete is the primary tool used in slash/mulch cultivation. .... The slash/mulch practice for sugar cane was different from that used for maize or ... It was the custom to plant corn on ground thus cleared, but is seemed obvious ... In their slash/mulch system (called tumba y pudre in Spanish) chococito maize ...
www.ppath.cornell.edu/.../ETHURSTON.html -

franglish
Switzerland
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman
PRO pts in category: 4
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)



Login or register (free and only takes a few minutes) to participate in this question.

You will also have access to many other tools and opportunities designed for those who have language-related jobs (or are passionate about them). Participation is free and the site has a strict confidentiality policy.

Return to KudoZ list

KudoZ™ translation help

The KudoZ network provides a framework for translators and others to assist each other with translations or explanations of terms and short phrases.

See also:
ProZ.com term search
Search millions of term translations
Close search
Term search
  • All of ProZ.com
  • Term search
  • Jobs
  • Forums
  • Multiple search