| 释义 |
‖ sertão Geogr.|ˈsɛrtɐ̃u|
Also † Sertam; sertao, Sertão. Pl. sertãos, sertões |ˈsɛrtõiʃ|.
[Pg.]
The name of an arid, barren region, characterized by caatinga, in the interior of Pernambuco and neighbouring states in NE Brazil; also applied to other areas in Brazil of similar character. Also, more widely, the remote interior or outback of Brazil.
1816H. Koster Trav. in Brazil vi. 77 The trees had mostly lost their leaves. I had now entered upon the Sertam, and surely it deserves the name. 1851Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib. v. 1429/2 The cap is made in the Sertaô (the interior) of the province of Pernambuco. 1876Encycl. Brit. IV. 226/1 Except on the loftiest mountains, and on the wide sertãos, the vegetation of Brazil is luxuriant beyond description. 1903W. R. Fisher tr. A. F. W. Schimper's Plant-Geogr. iii. iii. 275 In contrast with its southern portion, the middle part of Central Brazil, the so-called Sertão district, possesses a xerophilous woodland climate. 1926R. Nash Conquest of Brazil iv. 144 This Negro-Indian cross was considerable only in the lawless sertões of Matto Grosso. 1930C. F. Jones S. Amer. xxxiii. 471 The physical landscape of Northeast Brazil consists of three major divisions: marginal lowlands; sertão, parched uplands of brushwood and grasses..; serra, elevated mountain zones. 1950E. G. Ashton S. Amer. iv. 51 With a rather more generous rainfall on the sertãos..the characteristic vegetation resembles the savanna of the Matto Grosso. 1961Times 8 Aug. 9/7 President Kubitschek's decision to move the capital from Rio to the heart of the undeveloped sertao. 1966K. Webb tr. Pohl & Zepp's Latin Amer. ii. 43 A particular vegetation type of these drier lands is the caatinga of the north-east, the sertão. This region of semi⁓desert has a vegetation cover made up of sparse thorn forest... Sertão in this sense means a particular place—the dry interior of north-east Brazil; in a more general usage Sertão means the sparsely inhabited backlands of the interior of Brazil. It is the equivalent of the Australian ‘outback’. 1971P. C. C. Garnham Progress in Parasitology ix. 191 The scene is laid in the sertão and its wide empty spaces in northern Minas Gerais.
Hence sertanista |-aˈnista|, one engaged in activity in the sertão; one knowledgeable about the sertão and its inhabitants.
1944S. Putnam tr. E. da Cunha's Rebellion in Backlands i. 45 The northern sertanistas..were fully a match for the bandeirantes of the south. 1973Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 22 June 5/2 Francisco Meireles and the two other sertanistas (Indian experts),..flew from Belem. |