Indian summer

Etymology


Of North American origin, exact etymology. The most plausible suggestions are that Native Americans (or American Indians) called it a form of “summer” due to harvesting late plants or preparing for winter, or that European settlers coined it due to various Native American activities in this season, or due to the weather phenomenon being associated with regions inhabited by Native Americans. Alternatively, the use of the word may indicate something deviating from the norm: compare terms like,.

Noun

 * 1) A stretch of sunny and warm, often hazy, days during late autumn.
 * 2)  The late autumn of life; a late flowering of activity before old age.
 * 1)  The late autumn of life; a late flowering of activity before old age.
 * 1)  The late autumn of life; a late flowering of activity before old age.
 * 1)  The late autumn of life; a late flowering of activity before old age.
 * 1)  The late autumn of life; a late flowering of activity before old age.
 * 1)  The late autumn of life; a late flowering of activity before old age.

Usage notes
In the northeastern region of the United States, the term refers to a phenomenon occurring from late October through November. However, depending on the geographical region to which it is applied, it may occur from as early as September to as late as January in the northern hemisphere. Some people restrict the term to several days of warm weather after there has already been a frost.

By the 20th century, the term had displaced earlier ones like, , and that had described a similar phenomenon.

Due to its supposed use of Indian to mean "abnormal" or "different from the norm", the term has seen controversy as possibly being a racist term against Indians and Native Americans.

Descendants

 * French: ,

Translations

 * Arabic: صَيْف هِنْدِيّ
 * Basque: uda txiki, San Martin hegoak, San Martinetako uda txiki
 * Belarusian: бабі́на ле́та
 * Bulgarian: циганско лято
 * Catalan: estiuet de Sant Martí
 * Chinese:
 * Cantonese: 秋老虎
 * Mandarin:
 * Czech:, indiánské léto
 * Dutch:
 * Erzya: сово
 * Faroese: heystlýkka
 * Finnish:
 * French:, ,
 * German:
 * Greek:
 * Hebrew: קיץ אינדיאני
 * Hungarian: ,
 * Irish: samhradh beag
 * Italian: estate di San Martino, estate indiana
 * Japanese:, ,
 * Kazakh: қоңыр күз
 * Korean: 인디언 서머
 * Latvian: atvasara
 * Lithuanian: bobų vasara
 * Macedonian: ци́ганско ле́то, ѓу́пско ле́то
 * Norman: p'tit êté
 * Norwegian:
 * Bokmål:
 * Persian: گرمای پاییزه
 * Polish:, złota jesień
 * Portuguese: veranico, verão de São Martinho
 * Romanian: vară indiană
 * Russian: ,
 * Serbo-Croatian:
 * Roman: bablje ljeto, Miholjsko ljeto, Martinjsko ljeto
 * Spanish:
 * Swedish: ,
 * Turkish:
 * Ukrainian:
 * Welsh: Haf Bach Mihangel


 * Finnish:
 * German: zweiter Frühling
 * Greek: γαλήνια γηρατειά
 * Irish: fómhar beag na ngéanna
 * Japanese: 返り咲く
 * Polish: pogodna jesień życia
 * Russian:
 * Serbo-Croatian: druga mladost


 * Spanish: ;