tronçonneuse

English translation: chainsaw

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
French term or phrase:tronçonneuse
English translation:chainsaw
Entered by: Valerie SYKES

12:24 Mar 10, 2009
French to English translations [Non-PRO]
Forestry / Wood / Timber
French term or phrase: tronçonneuse
This is in a news article about the Amazon being in danger.

Jugez-en vous-même, la déforestation en Equateur atteint le taux record de 2,4 % par an ! A ce rythme, elle ne survivra pas aux hurlements des tronçonneuses en… 2049. Autant dire que nous sommes tous concernés par cette échéance qui affectera sérieusement l’équilibre social et économique du monde.

The Harrap's gives the translation as chainsaw or motor saw. The Oxford Hachette gives it as chain saw or power saw. In Granddictionnaire, chainsaw figures in the terme à eviter and the translation given is slasher. So I am a bit confused.

Looking forward to your suggestions

Thanks,
Uma
Uma Hariharan
Local time: 03:19
chainsaw
Explanation:
Chainsaws are used to cut down trees.

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Note added at 4 mins (2009-03-10 12:28:15 GMT)
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"Primeval forest faces death by chainsaw" Daily Telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/poland/1435...
Selected response from:

Valerie SYKES
United Kingdom
Local time: 21:49
Grading comment
thanks for the timely help.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
5 +12chainsaw
Valerie SYKES
4 +1Chainsaw
Joern Wennerstroem
4 -1cut-off machine
Etienne Muylle Wallace
Summary of reference entries provided
Elsiever's dictionary of forestry
Miranda Joubioux (X)
scie à chaîne
Bourth (X)

  

Answers


1 min   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +12
chainsaw


Explanation:
Chainsaws are used to cut down trees.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 mins (2009-03-10 12:28:15 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

"Primeval forest faces death by chainsaw" Daily Telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/poland/1435...

Valerie SYKES
United Kingdom
Local time: 21:49
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
Grading comment
thanks for the timely help.
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thanks for your quick response. I thought that it had to be chainsaw but when I saw that it was listed as the terme à eviter in granddictionnaire, for chainsaw, I got confused.


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  lestertrad: For example, by the ONF...
1 min

agree  Ethele Salem Sperling
4 mins

agree  Sheila Wilson: The GDT must have had a glitch (personally, I've never heard of a slasher - AmEng perhaps?)
14 mins

agree  chaplin
14 mins

agree  Michael GREEN: "Slasher" looks like another example of "GDT English" ... I have a "tronçonneuse", bought in France. My brother bought the same model in the UK, where it is sold as a chainsaw.
30 mins

agree  Tony M: It is important to note that this may not necessarly be the right term for INDUSTRIAL use, but IMHO it is being used rather figuratively here anyway
51 mins

agree  Christopher Newell: "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" = "Massacre à la Tronçonneuse" ...
52 mins

agree  Jean-Claude Gouin: 100% d'accord ... mais j'aimerais savoir pourquoi tel dictionnaire déconseille ce mot. I've heard of a 'slasher' but never in this context ...
1 hr

agree  Sheila Hardie
1 hr

agree  MurielP (X)
1 hr

agree  Miranda Joubioux (X): I agree with Tony that this is a figurative use and that it should be chainsaw here.
2 hrs

agree  swanda
12 hrs
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6 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): -1
cut-off machine


Explanation:
Technical dictionaries of Beigbeder and of H. Mink

Etienne Muylle Wallace
Spain
Local time: 22:49
Native speaker of: Native in DutchDutch, Native in FrenchFrench

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  chaplin: not the most common utterance!
10 mins

disagree  Michael GREEN: A cut-off machine is a circular saw, not a chain saw. See eg http://www.sz-wholesale.com/promotional-products/16927-CUT-O...
29 mins
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27 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
Chainsaw


Explanation:
Chainsaw is the word of choice on several online dictionaries, Merriam-Webster to name just one. A lookup on STIHL (manufacturer of chainsaws, among other power-tools) also gives the word: chainsaw. Power saw is also used, but is more ambiguous than chain saw.

Example sentence(s):
  • STIHL chain saws combine innovative technology with high power, optimum ergonomic design and low weight.
  • Husqvarna has one of the worlds widest range of chainsaws made for every need and condition, around the world.

    Reference: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chainsaw
    Reference: http://www.stihl.com/
Joern Wennerstroem
Local time: 22:49
Native speaker of: Danish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Miranda Joubioux (X): Good references
2 hrs
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Reference comments


2 hrs
Reference: Elsiever's dictionary of forestry

Reference information:
gives
log cutoff saw; cutoff saw; butt saw
for
scie à tronçonner; scie de tronçonnage; tronçonneuse
(there's a picture here http://www.greenmachinery.co.uk/product/-/K750)

and also
crosscutter; bucker; log maker
for tronçonneuse
(There's a picture here http://www.usa.husqvarna.com/node3099.aspx?nid=79055&pid=360...
and here for the UK market
http://www.forestandarb.com/Husqvarna357XP.html

However, these terms are used by loggers and not destined for the general public, which I believe your text is.

Miranda Joubioux (X)
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 8
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1 hr peer agreement (net): +1
Reference: scie à chaîne

Reference information:
If you read GDT correctly, you'll see they advise against BOTH "tronçonneuse" and "(le) chainsaw" (i.e. using "chainsaw" in French). For them, the term to use is "scie à chaîne".

Possibly because a "tronçonneuse" suggests a machine for cutting into "tronçons", not one for felling trees. Now cutting to length is exactly what a "slasher" does:

Slasher -Mobile machine designed to cut FELLED trees to a predetermined length with a shear or saw. Also known as a bucker.
Slasher -Machine that bucks longwood into shortwood at the landing. Also known as bucker (22).
http://www.genesisny.net/Commodity/Timber/Timberglos.html


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Note added at 4 hrs (2009-03-10 16:40:20 GMT)
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If you read the GDT entries in full (there are 3 pages for "tronçonneuse") you'll see they distinguish between what all we rural folk have in our garages for disposing of the mother-in-law and the big machine used in forestry. In everyday parlance (and especially outside Québec) however a tronçonneuse is a hand-held chainsaw.

Dixit GDT :
Au Québec, la notion de tronçonneuse se réfère à l'anglais « slasher » et n'a aucun rapport avec la scie à chaîne. C'est une énorme machine équipée pour tronçonner les arbres en bois à pâte ou en bois de sciage. Elle peut être mobile comme le modèle Forano ou à poste fixe comme la Tanguay. D'ailleurs la tronçonneuse existait avant la mécanisation intensive, elle était hippomobile.
Le terme « tronçonneuse stationnaire » semble être un calque de l'anglais.


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Note added at 4 hrs (2009-03-10 16:42:15 GMT)
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Since I think that while deforestation in the Amazon basin is massive, it is done on an "artisanal" scale, only by thousands of people, using chainsaws rather than the industrial machines.

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Note added at 4 hrs (2009-03-10 17:18:24 GMT)
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Actually, when you look in the dictionary - well, my dictionary, Larousse Lexis, anyway - tronçonneuse IS defined primarily in the sense of the large machine.

tronçonneuse n.f. (1933). Technol.1. Machine-outil utilisée en fabrication mécanique pour débiter en tronçons, de section perpendiculaire à l'axe, des barres our des tubes métalliques de section circulaire. -- 2. Machine servant au tronçonnage des grumes ou des pièces de bois.

But in French "as she is spoke", a tronçonneuse is a chainsaw, which may well have been designed primarily for cutting branches off felled trees and cutting felled trunks and branches into manageable lengths.

Bourth (X)
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 52
Note to reference poster
Asker: Hi, Thanks for the reference. So chain saw is not wrong actually? I am wondering if in this context I should just translate it as a saw and leave out the technicality since this is a news article and here it is more figurative than literal I think. What is your suggestion.


Peer comments on this reference comment (and responses from the reference poster)
agree  Simon Mac: Yep, I've had a look at GDT - as you say, "chainsaw" is to be avoided in FRENCH, not in English!
2 hrs
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