Glossary entry

French term or phrase:

écorce

English translation:

pod

Added to glossary by Nina Iordache
Jul 21, 2015 19:17
8 yrs ago
French term

écorce

French to English Other Botany
It is about the cola nut and the context is:

"Comme tout écorce, elle contient deux noix (...)"

The rest of the context is about the symbolism of these 2 parts of the nut, i.e. friendship so it doesn't offer more information about the term.

I would like to know if this écorce has to do with a special classification of the fruits, please.
And its translation, of course :).

Thank you.
Proposed translations (English)
3 +6 pod
4 husk
2 shell
3 -2 bark

Discussion

Catharine Cellier-Smart Jul 22, 2015:
True? Nina, I presume when you wrote '"true" French' (in reply to Sheri's answer) it was a slip of the keyboard and you really meant "French French" or something similar. Like for any language, the notion of 'true' is highly subjective.
Nina Iordache (asker) Jul 21, 2015:
@ all No more context before, except that cola nut is good for the marathon runners, etc. And none afterwards... Sorry. As for the gender: I have just copy-pasted the quote...
patrickfor Jul 21, 2015:
If it can help I found this
Les fruits sont des cabosses groupées en 5 ou 6 qui contiennent entre
1 et 12 graines – les noix de kola – qui mesurent environ 2,5 à 3 cm
de longueur.
• La noix de la « petite kola » (Cola acuminata), de couleur rose à
rouge, se divise en plusieurs morceaux (au moins 4) et celle de la
« grande kola » (Cola nitida), de couleur blanc-jaunâtre à rouge,
en deux. Au Cameroun, « la petite kola » porte des fruits mûrs entre
octobre et décembre, tandis que la « grande kola » fructifie entre
avril et juin.
Frank Foley Jul 21, 2015:
It's a typo: écorce is feminine, but I'm sure you worked that out by now. :-)
philgoddard Jul 21, 2015:
I think the French may be wrong, and they mean "like any nut, it breaks easily into two halves" - though this itself is incorrect, as not all nuts do this. But some more context would help.
philgoddard Jul 21, 2015:
What does "elle" refer to?
It can't be the nut, because it says "contient deux noix".
What does it say before and after this?

Proposed translations

+6
48 mins
Selected

pod

Maybe not the usual translation of écorce, but...

The kola nut is actually the seed pod that is produced by plants in the Cola genus. When the pod is broken open, it reveals the seeds it contains. For thousands of years, kola nut seeds have been ingested by humans for the euphoria and physical stimulation they produce, as well as for medical purposes.
https://drugs-forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=116270

Also, 'pod' may fit better in this particular context in terms of symbolizing friendship ("two peas in a pod").
Note from asker:
Thank you, yes, this must be it! And the French spoken in my text is African so they may not be speaking "true" French.
Peer comment(s):

agree AbrahamS : The whole thing doesn't make much sense even in French: the "écorce" is not what contains the "noix", and it is a feminine word anyway. But since it is only an image, we can translate using the proper terms! And as you say, they fit better.
31 mins
Thank you :-)
agree philgoddard : I've changed my mind! The French is rubbish, but Kew Gardens says the pods split into two equal halves to reveal four to eight seeds.
1 hr
Now that is an interesting find. I trust Kew Gardens more than the author of this text. Thanks!
agree Frank Foley : i-Pod, therefore I yam. A messy text, indeed.
13 hrs
Thank you, Frank
agree Yolanda Broad
20 hrs
Thank you, Yolanda
agree Michele Fauble
20 hrs
Thank you, Michele
agree kashew : Yep - peas in a pod!
1 day 12 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thank you very much, Sheri!"
2 mins

shell

Food Industries Manual - Page 462 - Google Books Result
https://books.google.co.uk/books?isbn=1461311292
Christopher G J Baker, ‎M.D. Ranken, ‎R.C. Kill - 2012 - ‎Technology & Engineering
For good keeping quality these nuts should not contain more than 6% moisture. ... changed to shells, each containing two or three Seeds or nuts, are removed.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 mins (2015-07-21 19:21:06 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Health Benefits of the Kola Nut | LIVESTRONG.COM
www.livestrong.com › Food and Drink
26 Apr 2015 - The kola nut belongs to the cocoa family and is native to Africa, as well ... to 2 inches long and looks like a chestnut, with its brown-colored shell.
Note from asker:
Thank you, Liz!
Something went wrong...
24 mins

husk

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Husk
Husk (or hull) in botany is the outer shell or coating of a seed. It often refers to the leafy outer covering of an ear of maize (corn) as it grows on the plant. Literally ...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 29 minutes (2015-07-21 19:47:04 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Husk (==shell) could sound more philosophical?
Something went wrong...
-2
25 mins

bark

Ecorce is a generic french word for the "cover" (?) of a fruit (écorce d'orange) or of a tree (écorce d'arbre)

http://www.infovisual.info/01/039_fr.html

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 40 mins (2015-07-21 19:57:53 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I just noticed if you go to french wiki and search for écorce, and then click on english (on the left banner) it links to bark :-)

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Écorce
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bark

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 46 mins (2015-07-21 20:03:59 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I knew bark but didn't know if it could work for a nut and I found this
http://www.amazon.fr/Lucky-Reptile-Substrat-éclats-décorce/d...
"coconut bark"
Peer comment(s):

disagree philgoddard : Bark is what covers the trunk of the tree.
1 hr
OK thanks.
disagree B D Finch : Afraid that, in a nutshell, it doesn't work in this context; even though coconut trees have bark, the coconuts don't.
1 hr
Fine. I read "coconut bark" and not "coconut tree bark" so I thought it was OK. Especially because in French écorce is... many things from bark to peel :-) + love the "nutshell"
Something went wrong...
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