# Road roller



## 123xyz

Hello everybody,

Could someone tell me the Romanian word for "road roller" (also called "steam roller" sometimes, even if it doesn't run on steam), referring to a vehicle with a large cylinder (or a pair of them) which is used to flatten roads, e.g. after new asphalt has been laid? Here is an image. All that I've managed to find in the dictionary here is "tăvălug", but from the definitions that DEX provides for this word, I gather that it refers to some sort of agricultural machine (presumably something like this - I wouldn't really know, because my knowledge of agriculture is too scanty), or the cylinder of a road roller (cilindru greu, folosit la anumite mașini pentru fărâmare, îndesare, nivelare etc.), rather than the vehicle itself. So what's the vehicle called?

Thank you in advance


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## farscape

The common term is _compresor_ or even _cilindru compresor_ (attached to a machine/vehicle resembling a tractor). Smaller cillinders pulled or pushed by man or work animals are called _tăvălug_, somewhat different than the machine used in working the land and shown in your second picture.

Here is an article where  _compresor_ and _tăvălug_ are used in context.

Later,
f.


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## 123xyz

Thank you for the response.


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## irinet

Hi,

1. We call that kind of road roller a '_vibrocompactor'_ / 'motocompactor' or _'compactor'_. A 'cylinder compactor/roller' is not a machine to be driven.
2. That machine used in agriculture is 'tăvălug', like you said, or it can be a 'tăvălug compactor', too.

_Of what I know, a 'compresor' is something else related to air-compressing._


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## farscape

irinet said:


> ...
> _Of (_sic_) what I know, a 'compresor' is something else related to air-compressing._



I've selected a few links here for you to check out the Romanian translation of Andrei Tarkovsky's debut film, "The steamroller and the violin" -> Compresorul și vioara"

Compresorul si vioara — ACUM.TV (here you'll find a picture of the young boy driving the steamroller / compresor)

Compresorul și vioara - Wikipedia

You can easily find more examples yourself if you try - I'm talking about the common term in use but I'm not denying that _compresor_ is used for air/gas/fluid compressor as well.

Cheers


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## 123xyz

Thank you for the additional suggestions.


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## irinet

Both words are borrowings after all, so..., I cannot argue about something that my language does not possess. These words 'have passed' the borders in those machines.


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