"Indian Summer"首次出現(xiàn)在1778年一位法國(guó)籍美國(guó)人的書中，他在描寫殖民地的農(nóng)場(chǎng)中寫道， "Then a severe frost succeeds which prepares [the earth] to receive the voluminous coat of snow which is soon follow; though it is often preceded by a short interval of smoke and mildness, called the Indian Summer."
那么他為什么會(huì)在文章中提到 "smoke"一詞呢？一種說法認(rèn)為印第安人為了在冬天來臨之前用火燒的方法把躲藏起來的獵物驅(qū)逐出洞，或者是用火將耕地上的雜草燒盡以便第二年春耕，所以才有了"smoke"一詞。愛倫-坡在他的A Tale of Ragged Mountains，也提到"smoke"一詞（"the thick and peculiar mist, or smoke, which distinguishes the Indian Summer"）, 增加了這一說法的可信度。
菲利普-多德里奇在它的Note on the Indian War in West Virginia (1842) 對(duì)"smoke"一詞提供了另一種說法。他寫道，"煙霧籠罩的日子開始了，它將要持續(xù)一段時(shí)間。這樣的天氣被稱為Indian Summer，因?yàn)檫@段小陽春的天氣為印第安人去騷擾移民地區(qū)的人們提供了機(jī)會(huì)。"（"The smokey time commenced and lasted for a considerable number of days. This was the Indian summer, because it afforded the Indians another opportunity of visiting the settlements with their destructive warfare."）因?yàn)橛〉诎踩嗽谔鞗鲆院缶筒辉傧蛞泼竦貐^(qū)發(fā)起突襲，除了有這樣一段暖和的天氣。那么"smoke"就是印第安人焚燒村莊和房屋的結(jié)果。
這些說法到底哪個(gè)正確，還是得由您自己作出選擇，因?yàn)檫@些都是民間的說法。
在英國(guó)，人們也開始用"Indian Summer"來代替 "St. Luke's little summer", "St. Martin's summer", "All Hallows summer"表示"秋老虎"、"小陽春"這個(gè)意思。 如 "An Indian summer in the West Country brought peak holiday traffic jams in Devon yesterday" (Sunday Times, September 16, 1962).
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