High Tension and Low Tension Power Lines

As far as I know the french word for voltage is tension

http://www.wordreference.com/fren/tension

Most likely this word has been adopted, also high voltage may generate tension in the mind of users may be that's why the english has been avoided ?

Any canadians/ French to testify ?

sb Has it correct, and in fact the terminology is not unheard of in the U.S.

Most Romance languages like French use the word "tension" (or their own version) to refer to what in English is called "voltage" when speaking about electricity. This usually leads to some misunderstandings. The German word "Spannung" shares similar roots: Stretching. These words were probably linked (in the good old days) to something like "stretching the electric fluid".

Just think about the parallelism with "current" being hypothetically called "amperage" in English.

Dear all,

In Japan, we call "koo-atsu" = high pressure for HV (or MV),

"tee-atsu"= low pressure for LV.

Regards

Edignan should also bear in mind that minimum broadcast voltage is 90,000 volts. This was carried generally on relatively small steel towers that had four legs and an open box frame construction. As power plants got bigger, and grids became interconnected requiring more current to travel longer distances, losses due to resistance were cut by raising the voltage. Higher voltage required higher clearance distances and the towers could be moved farther apart - hence high tension.

Don't know if this is true, but it makes sense.