Tony M Dec 1, 2017:

@ Asker Well, I don't know for sure, but that's the sort of thing I had in mind.

Interestingly, I notice that your text also has 'carter', which is already a FR word, not used in EN; I don't know if the same term is also used in German, but it certainly seems to confirm then non-EN origins of this document, in which case bpws = hoops wouldn't be very surprising.

So I'm pretty sure it's probably going to turn out to be 'arceaux'; as for the canopy, that seems on the face of it to be describing more the function it sreves rather than form it takes (e.g. your 'bâche' in FR) — but again, it really all depends on the original source text; might be worth seeking help in the German language pair to see some of the possibilities 'canopy' might back-translate to?

Maliki Kamara (asker) Dec 1, 2017:

This kind of thing? Is it this kind of thing: http://www.remorques-tournier.com/remorque-bache-et-arceaux-... ? I am almost sure it is.

Maliki Kamara (asker) Dec 1, 2017:

It looks like... It looks like the document has been translated from German to English.

Tony M Dec 1, 2017:

Could it be... The sort of metal 'hoops' sometimes used over open vehciles that will have a canvas cover over them? I'm thinking like Army trucks, or of course the old covered waggons of the Wild West... As for 'canopy', perhaps they have a cover that it like a top with roll-up sides?

Do you know what country this document comes from? I find the use of 'bows' for 'hoops' slightly surprising, but it probably would be explained if this came from a non-native speaker. In French, they are called 'arceaux', which is of course etymologically more obviously related to both bows (arrows or violins) and hoops (croquet)