"Indian Summer"首次出現(xiàn)在1778年一位法國籍美國人的書中，他在描寫殖民地的農(nóng)場中寫道， "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."
那么他為什么會在文章中提到 "smoke"一詞呢？一種說法認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"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)一段時間。這樣的天氣被稱為Indian Summer，因為這段小陽春的天氣為印第安人去騷擾移民地區(qū)的人們提供了機會。"（"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."）因為印第安人在天涼以后就不再向移民地區(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。
這些說法到底哪個正確，還是得由您自己作出選擇，因為這些都是民間的說法。
在英國，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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