| 释义 |
‖ vaisya|ˈvaisja|
Also 9 veisya, vaish(y)a.
[Skr. vaiṡya peasant, labourer, etc.
In Sir T. Herbert's Trav. (1634) 38 the form wyses occurs (cf. quot. 1665), and bice from Urdu has had some currency.]
The third of the four great Hindu castes, comprising the merchants and agriculturists; a member of this caste. Also attrib.
1665Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 53 The last Sect or Cast of Gentiles are the Wises. 1794Sir W. Jones Inst. of Menu i. §31 [Brahma] caused the Brahmen, the Cshatriya, the Vaisya, and the Súdra..to proceed from his mouth, his arm, his thigh, and his foot. 1800Asiat. Ann. Reg. 53/2 Born of a Vaisya woman. 1801R. Patton Asiat. Mon. 123 The functions of the vaisya tribe. 1841Elphinstone Hist. Ind. I. 31 The practical knowledge required from a veisya is more general than that of the other classes. 1920H. G. Wells Outl. Hist. I. xx. 159/1 The four main castes seem to have been:..The Vaisya—herdsmen, merchants, money lenders, and land-owners. 1956R. Pieris Sinhalese Social Organization v. i. 170 The existence among the Sinhalese of a system akin to the classical Hindu four-fold scheme—priestly brahmins, kshatriyas or warriors, the pastoral vaisyas, and the lowly sūdras..is attested in the survival in Ceylon of the place-name ‘brahmin village’. 1958Spectator 17 Jan. 70/3 Brahmins, Kshattriyas, Vaishas and Sudras. 1971Illustr. Weekly India 11 Apr. 11/1 Rishabhadeva also classified the people according to their occupations, the kshatriyas who were warriors, the vaisyas who were traders, and the sudras who made their living by manual labour. 1971K. Kent in C. Bonington Annapurna South Face 309 Vaishya, common man or merchant. |