Mar 27, 2006 15:22
18 yrs ago
French term
couper le tronc de la première fourche de l'arbre
French to English
Other
Forestry / Wood / Timber
Canadian French
Proposed translations
(English)
| 3 | to cut the trunk of the first fork in the tree |
Beth Varley
|
| 3 | to cut off the trunk at the first fork of the tree |
Tony M
|
Proposed translations
3 mins
Beth Varley
Native in French
&
English
Specializes in field
MCIL SFT, English to French, Environment
Native in: French 
, English
Works in: English to French, French to English
Related KudoZ points
:
11
Selected
to cut the trunk of the first fork in the tree
In the absence of context...Does this seem to fit with your text ?(not all trees would have forks)
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Note added at 17 mins (2006-03-27 15:39:48 GMT)
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Lowest is probably clearer than first.
Yes I agree with Dustry that the "de" is puzzling because the fork would have two trunks so one would need to select which one to cut off (the smallest one usually).
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Note added at 17 mins (2006-03-27 15:39:48 GMT)
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Lowest is probably clearer than first.
Yes I agree with Dustry that the "de" is puzzling because the fork would have two trunks so one would need to select which one to cut off (the smallest one usually).
Note from asker:
| Thanks for the quick answers received so far. Do people tend to say "first fork" in/of a tree as oppose to "lowest", for example? Also, does anyone have any comment on the use of the word "crotch"? |
| Thanks! I have managed to find a partial description of the tree (which I may also have trouble translating): "S’effilant en hauteur à partir du sol au moyen de deux fourches, jusqu’à une hauteur d’environ 30 à 40 pieds." |
3 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Yes, I think it's the trunk of the fork, not the main trunk that comes straight up from the ground. Thank you!"
5 mins
to cut off the trunk at the first fork of the tree
Well, that 'de' is a little puzzling, but I can only assume it means 'cut off from'
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Note added at 1 day16 hrs (2006-03-29 07:40:55 GMT) Post-grading
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Since when do 'forks' have 'trunks'? AFAIK, the 'trunk' of a tree is precisely that --- the part of the tree that is free of side branches, up to the first fork only.
This usage is similar in French -- after the 'tronc', at the first fork it becomes a 'marre'
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Note added at 1 day16 hrs (2006-03-29 07:42:07 GMT) Post-grading
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The extra context certainly confirms rather than refutes what I ahve suggested.
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Note added at 1 day16 hrs (2006-03-29 07:40:55 GMT) Post-grading
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Since when do 'forks' have 'trunks'? AFAIK, the 'trunk' of a tree is precisely that --- the part of the tree that is free of side branches, up to the first fork only.
This usage is similar in French -- after the 'tronc', at the first fork it becomes a 'marre'
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Note added at 1 day16 hrs (2006-03-29 07:42:07 GMT) Post-grading
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The extra context certainly confirms rather than refutes what I ahve suggested.
Note from asker:
| Yes, based on the remainder of the document, that's definitely what the "de" means. Thank you! I was able to get a bit of a description of the tree and include it in a note below Beth's response. |
| My apologies. I wished you had written about "marre" earler! But this seems to have been a pruning operation, not the creation of a quasi-stump, so it sounds like the New Brunswick (Canada) judge might have been using the wrong terminology to begin with. |
Discussion