Una maza de veinte caballos amasijan

English translation: a group of twenty horses mix

16:15 Aug 20, 2013

Spanish to English translations [PRO]
Tech/Engineering - Construction / Civil Engineering

Spanish term or phrase: Una maza de veinte caballos amasijan

This is actually a text about an Argentine artist doing a project at a brickworks. It is a heading to a section describing the work. I know, of coures, that "maza" is mace, but I was not able to confirm that that is the specific word used for that tool in the brick making process.

The entire heading reads:

Una maza de veinte caballos amasijan cincuenta toneladas de barro, en un revoltijo de tres turnos de seis horas.

Thanks!

Wendy Gosselin KudoZ activity Questions: 2020 (5 open) (214 closed without grading) Answers: 2 Argentina
Local time: 11:10

English translation:a group of twenty horses mix

Explanation:
Just to be contrary, I think it could well be actual horses, it rather depends on the era. Horses were used to churn up the mud, straw and manure in brickworks. The plural "amasijan" seems to refer to a number of things, rather than a machine. Also, the mention of three six-hour shifts indicates the use of a team.

Of course, this would mean a spelling error, as it should be "masa" rather than "maza"

fabricacion - Las 3 L Fábrica de Ladrillos Artesanales
las3l.com.ar/artesanal.htm‎
Proceso de Fabricación de ladrillos hechos a mano y cocción a leña ... un fango homogéneo (antiguamente se utilizaban caballos para realizar la mezcla).

Heredia Ladrillos S. A. - Las Tapias - Córdoba - Argentina
www.heredialadrillos.com/‎
Nuestra Fábrica. Heredia Ladrillos inicio su actividad en un campamento. tradicional con un pisadero a caballos, transformándose a. partir del año 1982 en una ...

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Note added at 4 hrs (2013-08-20 20:27:36 GMT)
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Antiguamente la mezcla de barro, para los chorizos se preparaba con tierra negra. Esto se hacía en un pisadero con caballos. Se traía tierra negra, a la que se mojaba todo y al otro día a la mañana, a primera hora se le echaba los caballos para pisar ahí adentro. A los caballos, durante unas cuatro horas, había que hacerlos dar vueltas y cada tanto cambiarlos para el otro lado. En ocasiones se ponía una persona al medio, en pisaderos grandes, para que el caballo trabajara hacia la orilla, porque el caballo busca dar vueltas en el medio, para no trabajar tanto. El barro, se iba mezclando, con el mismo estiércol que dejaba el caballo. Luego era ideal, dejarlo unos días para que se pudriera bien.

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Note added at 1 day2 hrs (2013-08-21 18:17:44 GMT)
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Glad to find they were indeed horses. I'm not too happy with group in my answer, maybe herd or team would be better.

What do You Call a Group of Horses? - Ask.com Answers
answers.ask.com/.../what_do_you_call_a_group_of_...‎
A group of horses would usually be called a herd, although there are specific names for different types. Working horses are referred to as a team

Selected response from:

patinba
Argentina
Local time: 11:10

Grading comment

Thanks...I think this is the best option for a fairly elusive term
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

4 +1

a 20 h.p. mace (or mallet) pounds on (or mixes) 50 tons of...

anaell

3 +2

a group of twenty horses mix

patinba

4 -2

A mace of 20 horses mix-up

ROLANDO SALAZAR

Discussion entries: 6

Marie-Helene Dubois

Spain

I still think it's weird

13:09 Aug 21, 2013

to refer to a herd of horses as a "masa" but maybe that's only me. BTW, I'm not sure about Argentina but in the UK in the olden days, bricks would be made using a horse-powered pug mill. I'm wondering whether "maza" could be some kind of local word for pug mill. It's a long shot as I've found no evidence to support this.

Marie-Helene Dubois

Spain

@anaell

12:59 Aug 21, 2013

I've read your note and I agree. I often get source texts which are a load of rubbish. However, I think that writing "Z" or "C" instead of "S" is a more common error than making a singular into a plural. That doesn't of course mean that nobody mixes up their plurals and singulars or makes ridiculous mistakes...
I must say that I thought the same as you at first and was even close to giggling at the thought that someone may have thought these were real horses but thinking about it now I'm not so sure...

Wendy Gosselin

Argentina

ASKER

12:43 Aug 21, 2013

From what I know about the project, these are real horses. It does not refer to horse power here. Thanks!

Marie-Helene Dubois

Spain

I've had another thought

12:04 Aug 21, 2013

Grammatically it would make no sense if the "maza" was "20 h.p." because "amasijan" implies a plural subject, which a 20 hp mace is not. You wouldn't say "un coche de 120 caballos andan muy bien". This makes me more inclined to believe that the "caballos" are actually horses - barring of course a grammatical mistake.

Marie-Helene Dubois

Spain

Interesting...

11:50 Aug 21, 2013

It's got me thinking this. If it were actual horses, and presuming that "maza" is a typo for "masa", would you say "una masa de 20 caballos" in Argentinian Spanish? I know that this would sound weird in Spanish Spanish...I don't think Spanish people would refer to a group (or even a herd) of horses as a "masa".
Equally, I can't imagine any type of mace or mallet with a calculation of horsepower. I can't find any evidence of the force of a mace being calculated in horsepower either.

patinba

Argentina

Maces

11:07 Aug 21, 2013

might pound, but that is not how you churn the mud to make bricks (as implied by the word "revoltijo", another reason why I agree with Sara.

Answers

4 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): -2

A mace of 20 horses mix-up

Explanation:
It is a costruction procedure, for medium constructions.

ROLANDO SALAZAR
Local time: 10:10
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English,

Spanish

2 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

a 20 h.p. mace (or mallet) pounds on (or mixes) 50 tons of...

Explanation:
here, the "caballos" means horse-power, you were probably thrown off thinking of real live horses....
in essence....
a mace (or mallet) of 20 h.p. (force) mixes 50 tons of whatever.....

it's horse power, which in spain at least is referred to as just "caballos", to indicate the pulling/pushing force or "strength" of the machinery....it's one of those things you smack yourself for when you realise, because i'm sure you know the term but was thinking of something else....
:-)

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Note added at 20 hrs (2013-08-21 12:40:22 GMT)
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in reply to M-Helene....yes the verb is plural and shouldn't be, but then again, the writer could have made a mistake, you'd be amazed at some of the SL I get, I'm used to assuming there could be a typo or the writer was in a hurry, maybe in this case he caught on to the last word which is plural and didnt proofread afterwards

anaell
Spain
Local time: 16:10
Native speaker of:

English,

Spanish
PRO pts in category: 8

2 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

a group of twenty horses mix

patinba
Argentina
Local time: 11:10
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 342

Grading comment

Thanks...I think this is the best option for a fairly elusive term

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English translation: a group of twenty horses mix

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