| 释义 |
swidden Agric.|ˈswɪdən|
[f. swidden, var. swithen v. (see Eng. Dial. Dict.: also, as a place-name element in Yorks.); in mod. use, a conscious readoption of the dialect word (see sense 2, quot. 1951).]
1. a. An area of land that has been cleared for cultivation by slashing and burning the vegetation cover. Formerly only north. dial. (see quot. 1868).
1868J. C. Atkinson Gloss. Cleveland Dial. 514 Swidden, any place on the moor from which the Ling and other herbage has been burnt away, and which still shows signs of burning. 1957Proc. 9th Pacific Sci. Congress (1958) XX. 127/1 They maintain permanent villages.., constructing temporary simple houses in their swidden, where at least part of the family lives during those times of the year when the swidden requires a great deal of care. 1961Current Anthropol. II. 27/2 The specific form that a system of swidden agriculture may exhibit..depends on..the dispersal of swiddens... Swiddens may or may not be fenced. 1972Nature 3 Mar. 41/1 In one case a specific tree is found growing in the new swidden.
b. ellipt. for swidden cultivation.
1955Proc. Prehistoric Soc. XXI. 45 Even if swidden (clearance of woodland by burning) was not widely practised before Neolithic times, [etc.]. 1971D. J. Robinson in Blakemore & Smith Latin Amer.: Geogr. Perspectives v. 191 Swidden appears to have formed the basis of the subsistence agriculture of..a part of the tropical zone. 1977J. J. Fox Harvest of Palm i. 38 The Timorese have been forced..to rely even more heavily on swidden.
2. attrib. = slash-and-burn attrib. phr. (The principal use.)
1951K. G. Izikowitz Lamet Hill Peasants in French Indo-China 7 This is a book about the Lamet, swidden cultivators in the northern part of Laos. [Note] The primitive system of farming which involves clearing and burning the forest... In English it is sometimes called ‘shifting cultivation’ or ‘slash and burn’. There is no single word in ordinary English which covers the meaning, since the method is no longer used in England... In searching for an English word I have taken..a dialect word, swidden. 1957Proc. 9th Pacific Sci. Congress (1958) XX. 127/1 We have swidden cultivators who are sedentary in Southeast Asia and other parts of the humid tropics. 1965G. A. Collier Fields in Tzotzil iii. 60 Virtually all are subsistence corn farmers who utilize the slash-and-burn or ‘swidden’ system of agriculture. 1971Sci. Amer. Sept. 101/2 There is a structural similarity between a swidden garden and a tropical rain forest. 1978Kunstadter & Chapman in P. Kunstadter et al. Farmers in Forest i. 3/2 Swidden fields are usually located at some distance from markets, generally on land that is considered marginal... Swiddening is often carried out primarily as a subsistence operation..rather than as a source of cash crops.
Hence (as a back-formation) v. trans., to cultivate by the swidden method; ˈswiddener, ˈswiddening vbl. n.
1971Sci. Amer. Sept. 119/1 Between one month and four months after clearing begins..the felled litter on the site is burned. This is a step of considerable importance in the swiddening regime. 1975J. Nance Gentle Tasaday xvi. 282 Swiddeners did not uproot the growth, but burned it over and planted within it. 1978Kunstadter & Chapman in P. Kunstadter et al. Farmers in Forest i. 7/2 The land that is swiddened may or may not be claimed by a village unit as a whole. |