Glossary entry

French term or phrase:

masse

English translation:

ground [BE]; officially, 'exposed conductive parts' [PLEASE READ QUESTION FOR EXPLANATIONS!]

Added to glossary by Tony M
Feb 5, 2016 18:58
8 yrs ago
15 viewers *
French term

masse

French to English Tech/Engineering Energy / Power Generation
Bonsoir, comment traduiriez-vous masse ici ? J'ai trouvé earthing, earth mais je trouve cela bizarre car je traduirais par connection of the earth, from the user side, to the earth ?

Un régime de neutre définit la connexion du point neutre du transformateur à la terre et la connexion des masses côté utilisateur à la terre.
Change log

Feb 19, 2016 11:13: Tony M Created KOG entry

Feb 19, 2016 11:14: Tony M changed "Edited KOG entry" from "<a href="/profile/14723">Tony M's</a> old entry - "masse"" to ""ground [BE]; officialy, 'exposed conductive parts' [PLEASE READ QUESTION FOR EXPLANATIONS!]""

Discussion

Johannes Gleim Feb 6, 2016:
EA Traduction As you will see from the link http://www.electropedia.org/iev/iev.nsf/SearchView?SearchVie... , "ground" is the American designation of "earth" and not used for metal parts, which can and/or should be used.

BTW, this glossary from the International Electrical Commission could help you to understand and translate other electrical terms, too.

Proposed translations

+2
42 mins
Selected

ground [BUT see below!]

This is made all the more complicated by the difference in terminology between AE and BE. In British English, we differentiate between 'earth' — literally connected to the Earth — and 'ground', which may be the local common reference point (also known as 'chassis', 'chassis ground', and 'frame') BUT may not necessarily be connected to literal earth!

So in your case, and if for a British readership, you could just say 'ground' — the consumer's 'ground' may be conencted to 'earth'. It gets a bit trickier in AE!

HOWEVER, that said, in more formal technical language, 'masse' is often used to refer to what in EN we call 'exposed conductive parts' (i.e. usually metal ones!) — in other words, all the metal bits of your device that ought to be connected to earth.

Now I don't believe your source text is using it that way, it sounds a much less formal sort of situation to me.

Do also be aware that in FR the terms are not always used with absolute precision: in the document I am currently working on, they are used at times interchangeably, which is an immense headache!

Also, please DO try and term search, as this must have come up several times before and you should have some very full answers already in the glossary.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 heures (2016-02-05 21:35:57 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

BE: earth AE: ground

BE: ground AE: [chassis / frame / circuit ground]

BUT of course not all writers always use the terms accurately or worse still, consistently!

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 14 heures (2016-02-06 09:19:12 GMT)
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Possibly the most telling clue here is the fact that the s/t uses 'masses', while in certain usages it is non-countable.
Peer comment(s):

neutral philgoddard : You know more about this than I do, but I'm not aware of any difference between UK and US English here.
1 hr
Oh, I'm afraid there IS, and it's a constant nightmare for translators!
agree Kim Metzger
2 hrs
Thanks, Kim!
agree Daryo
11 hrs
Merci, Daryo !
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Selected automatically based on peer agreement."
+1
2 hrs

exposed-conductive-part

Area Earthing and protection against electric shock / Operation IEV ref 195-04-05
en
neutral point treatment
neutral point connection (deprecated)
manner of electric connection of the neutral point to reference earth
[SOURCE: 601-02-23 MOD]
fr
régime de neutre, m
mode de connexion électrique du point neutre à la terre de référence
[SOURCE: 601-02-23 MOD]
http://www.electropedia.org/iev/iev.nsf/display?openform&iev...

Area Earthing and protection against electric shock / Protective measures for electrical safety IEV ref195-06-10
en
exposed-conductive-part
conductive part of equipment which can be touched and which is not normally live, but which can become live when basic insulation fails
[SOURCE: 441-11-10 MOD, 826-03-02 MOD ]
fr
partie conductrice accessible, f
masse (dans une installation) m
partie conductrice d'un matériel, susceptible d'être touchée, et qui n'est pas normalement sous tension, mais peut le devenir lorsque l'isolation principale est défaillante
http://www.electropedia.org/iev/iev.nsf/display?openform&iev...
Peer comment(s):

agree Tony M : Just as I said over an hour ago! BUT I don't think this is necessarily the answer Asker needs here in this particular context. 'Ground' is NOT "a colloquial BE" term; it is simply a usage that has diverged as technology has evolved.
4 mins
I appreciate the distinctions made in regard to the ambitious French term "masse". But I wouldn't translate it by a colloquial BE term for accessible metal enclosures and frames, wich is defined differently by IEC.
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