The book by Coriolis Du calcul de l'effet des machines is usually translated in English literally: “Calculation of the Effect of Machines”.
Is it possible to stretch the translation to “efficiency” or “effectiveness” without forcing the original French meaning?
Larousse gives an example: être sans effet : rester OU demeurer sans effet (to have no effect, to be ineffective).
That encouraged me to ask: what is the best word in English in your opinion? What is the exact meaning in French?
Update after the answers: If you read wiki about it, Coriolis defined the new unit of work that would after be called Joule, substituting the British HP.
So what he did was to provide a unit of measurement of the output of a steam machine, as compared to real horses. What about “performance”?
What about output ? – mannaia
Thanks for your wonderful response, I am not able to judge if this option is acceptable, but I wanted to submit an element to your reflection:
Coriolis was just following ins Watt's steps, providing a measurement of the 'effect-iveness- of a steam engine as a substitute of the work done by horses. Could you help you find the right contemporary term, just thinking of which word you would use for a horse? I imagine that even in old French you would not talk about the 'effet des chevaux?