essences agréables

English translation: attractive varieties of trees and shrubs

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
French term or phrase:essences agréables
English translation:attractive varieties of trees and shrubs
Entered by: Lara Barnett

12:43 Aug 7, 2019
French to English translations [Non-PRO]
Marketing - Real Estate / Property specification
French term or phrase: essences agréables
I just want to know if this is suggesting "pleasant smells" or "a pleasant ambience/environment" .

The sentence has just introduced a beautiful detached property close to a park area. It describes the park and then says

"....autres arbustes, haies et essences agréables offrant un décor bucolique des plus harmonieux."

Please only post an answer if you can help with this particular question. I don't need complete webpages from my client's website posted all over my Kudoz questions.

Thank you.
Lara Barnett
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:54
attractive varieties of trees and shrubs
Explanation:
I think that is a natural way of expressing it in English.

publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2015/aac-aafc/A53-995-1978-eng.pdf
All names are from Render's Manual of Cultivated Trees and Shrubs. Wherever ...... cypress, of which there are many attractive varieties, is not hardy in Eastern.

https://publications.csiro.au/rpr/download?pid=procite:a691c...
other attributes of a wide range of trees and shrubs, both native and introduced ...... However there are a number of much more attractive varieties available ..

https://www.seasonalgardening.co.uk/trees/robinia.asp
A strikingly beautiful group of deciduous trees and shrubs, grown for their richly ... There are a number of attractive varieties available in UK garden centres.
Selected response from:

B D Finch
France
Local time: 11:54
Grading comment
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +6attractive varieties of trees and shrubs
B D Finch
4 +2pleasant varieties
Nicolas Gambardella
5 +1attractive trees
Tony M
Summary of reference entries provided
Pour ne pas être importunée
mchd
Robert (dico)
writeaway

Discussion entries: 4





  

Answers


20 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
pleasant varieties


Explanation:
An "essence" is a species of tree. They might have a pleasant smell or a pleasant look. However, in your sentence, I would use a more general "pleasant variety"

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essence_forestière

Nicolas Gambardella
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:54
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Adrian MM.
9 mins

neutral  philgoddard: I think your explanation is correct, but I'm not sure your suggested translation conveys a clear meaning. Varieties of what?
19 mins
  -> I kind of agree, but the source does not specify it. Pleasant tree varieties would work nicely though

agree  Simon Charass: essence = botanique - species: le parc contient de nombreuses essences différentes - the park contains many different species of trees [Larousse]
1 hr

neutral  Tony M: Like Phil, I think 'trees' needs to be spelt out in some way; also, I don't think 'pleasant' is really the most natural adjective to use here in EN either. / Your ref. speaks of 'pleasant taste', which is quite different!
1 hr
  -> Yup. But it is used in horticulture. See for instance https://horticulture.ahdb.org.uk/sites/default/files/researc...

neutral  Michele Fauble: Missing ‘trees’
4 hrs
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3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +6
attractive varieties of trees and shrubs


Explanation:
I think that is a natural way of expressing it in English.

publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2015/aac-aafc/A53-995-1978-eng.pdf
All names are from Render's Manual of Cultivated Trees and Shrubs. Wherever ...... cypress, of which there are many attractive varieties, is not hardy in Eastern.

https://publications.csiro.au/rpr/download?pid=procite:a691c...
other attributes of a wide range of trees and shrubs, both native and introduced ...... However there are a number of much more attractive varieties available ..

https://www.seasonalgardening.co.uk/trees/robinia.asp
A strikingly beautiful group of deciduous trees and shrubs, grown for their richly ... There are a number of attractive varieties available in UK garden centres.

B D Finch
France
Local time: 11:54
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 271

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Tony M: I think one might even say 'an attractive variety of...' — as Phil points out, 'essence' really means 'species' rather than 'variety', although Freda Bloggs probably doesn't give a fig about that botanical nicety!
15 mins
  -> Thanks Tony. Not so much botanical nicety as context. In a botanical publication, I'd use the term "speciies", but that would be inappropriate here.

agree  Ph_B (X): I agree that it is not just about trees. See discussion. Why not include those hedges as well?/Was just referring to the haies mentioned with the shrubs and trees in the source text .
57 mins
  -> Thanks Philippe. Not sure if I understand your comment correctly, but hedges are made up of shrubs.

agree  Michele Fauble
1 hr
  -> Thanks Michele.

agree  philgoddard: Essence doesn't mean variety.
11 hrs
  -> Thanks Phil. In this context, it does mean "variety". In a botanical context, one would translate it as "species"< This is rather like translating the French "plantigrade" as "bear" in a newspaper article.

agree  Daryo
17 hrs
  -> Thanks Daryo

agree  AllegroTrans: Yes, and definitely not "nice petrol"
22 hrs
  -> Thanks AT - No, definitely not.
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +1
attractive trees


Explanation:
...or maybe, ideally, 'a selection of attractive trees' etc.

It seems clear from the wording of your question thatyou have missed the basic meaning of 'essence' here.


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 18 hrs (2019-08-08 06:46:24 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Ph-B above reminds us that 'agréables' may well indeed qualify the entire list preceding it, which certainly offers scope for alternative wordings.
Personally, in this context, I don't think it is particularly necessary to emphasize the botanical variety of the vegetation — I think an EN reader would take that for granted, unless there were any evidence to the contrary.

Tony M
France
Local time: 11:54
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 365

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  philgoddard
13 hrs
  -> Thanks, Phil!
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Reference comments


19 mins peer agreement (net): +5
Reference: Pour ne pas être importunée

Reference information:
rien de tel que de faire l'effort de rechercher !

https://www.larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais/essence/31094

mchd
France
Native speaker of: French
PRO pts in category: 4
Note to reference poster
Asker: I am aware of this meaning of essence. My question is posted in order to find the best way to phrase this in the context.


Peer comments on this reference comment (and responses from the reference poster)
agree  writeaway
20 mins
  -> merci
agree  philgoddard: Though I don't think this is a non-pro question.
50 mins
  -> merci
agree  Tony M: Absolutely! Asker needs to phrase their questions correctly so as to elicit the right information! @ Phil: it is one bog-standard meaning of the FR term that any normally bilingual person might reasonably be expected to know.
1 hr
  -> merci
agree  Michele Fauble
4 hrs
  -> merci
agree  GILLES MEUNIER
17 hrs
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1 hr peer agreement (net): +4
Reference: Robert (dico)

Reference information:
essence Afficher les conjugaisons ou les féminins et les pluriels./esɑ̃s/ nom féminin
a (= carburant)petrol Brit • gas(oline) US
(= solvant)spirit
■ essence minérale : mineral oil
■ essence ordinaire : two-star petrol Brit ; regular gas US
■ essence sans plomb : unleaded petrol Brit ; unleaded gas US
■ essence de térébenthine : turpentine
■ à essence : petrol-driven Brit ; gasoline-powered US
■ prendre ou faire* de l'essence : to get petrol Brit ou gas US ; to fill up with petrol Brit ou gas US
Voir : distributeur, panne1
b (= extrait)
[de plantes]essential oil • essence
[d'aliments]essence
■ essence de vanille/de violette/de café : vanilla/violet/coffee essence
■ essence de citron/de rose : lemon/rose oil
■ essence de lavande : lavender essence ou oil
c (= fondement)
[de conversation, question, doctrine]gist • essence
[de livre]gist
(Philosophie)essence
(littéraire)
■ par essence : in essence ; essentially
d (= espèce) [d'arbres]species
■ essence à feuilles persistantes : evergreen species
■ se croire d'une essence supérieure (littéraire) : to think of oneself as a superior being ou as of a superior species

writeaway
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 90
Note to reference poster
Asker: Thank you.


Peer comments on this reference comment (and responses from the reference poster)
agree  Tony M
30 mins
agree  Michele Fauble
3 hrs
agree  Jennifer White
3 hrs
agree  Daryo: Good old Robert! One of the best.
19 hrs
  -> handy for ideas. the French monolingual version is the one I still rely on
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