英语词汇indian giver的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

Indian giver. Tradition holds that American Indians took back their gifts when they didn’t get equally valuable ones in re- turn. Some Indians were no doubt Indian givers; others, how- ever, got insulted if they received more than they gave. Instances of Indians Indian-giving are hard to come by, and even the Handbook of American Indians (1901), published by the Smith- sonian Institution, defines the practice as an “alleged custom.” Perhaps the expression is explained by the fact that Indian was once widely used as a synonym for bogus or false. Many of the nearly 500 terms prefixed with Indian unfairly impugn the In- dian’s honesty or intelligence—even honest Injun was originally meant sarcastically, and Indian summer means a false summer.

词汇	indian giver
词源	Indian giver. Tradition holds that American Indians took back their gifts when they didn’t get equally valuable ones in re- turn. Some Indians were no doubt Indian givers; others, how- ever, got insulted if they received more than they gave. Instances of Indians Indian-giving are hard to come by, and even the Handbook of American Indians (1901), published by the Smith- sonian Institution, defines the practice as an “alleged custom.” Perhaps the expression is explained by the fact that Indian was once widely used as a synonym for bogus or false. Many of the nearly 500 terms prefixed with Indian unfairly impugn the In- dian’s honesty or intelligence—even honest Injun was originally meant sarcastically, and Indian summer means a false summer.
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