lang

Forms

lang (strong nominative masculine singular langer, comparative länger, superlative am längsten)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German lanc, inherited from Old High German lang, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *lang, inherited from Proto-Germanic *langaz (“long”).^[2][1][3] The same word is Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐌲𐌲𐍃 (laggs), Old Norse langr, Old English lang, Old Frisian long and Old Saxon lang, and today Dutch lang, English long, Swedish lång and Icelandic langur.^[2][3][4] Its first record is the tribal name Latin Langobardī (“long beards”) in Tacitus.^[4][5]

The closest match outside Germanic is Latin longus (“long”).^[2][6][7] Most other Indo-European languages have a related word with an initial /d/ and no nasal: Sanskrit दीर्घ (dīrghá), Avestan darəga-, Ancient Greek δολιχός (dolikhós), Russian долгий (dólgij) and, with the /d/ lost, Lithuanian ìlgas, Latvian ilgs and 𐍄𐌿𐌻𐌲𐌿𐍃 (tulgus, “firm, steadfast”).^[4][2][6] Pfeifer and Kroonen take the Germanic and Latin words as a nasalised form of this root, Proto-Indo-European *del- (“long”);^[4][3] Pfeifer adds Middle Persian drang (“long”), which Kluge sees as a possible link between the groups.^[4][2] Kroonen sets up Proto-Indo-European *dlonh₁gʰ-o-, implying a nasal present that is not attested.^[3] Kluge accepts that a form Proto-Indo-European *dlongʰ- would join both groups, but calls the connection problematic and disputed, since the loss of the /d/ is unexplained.^[2] The Grimms' dictionary considered only Latin as certainly related and did not even rule out an early borrowing from it, as with kurz.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German lang is first recorded in glosses before the end of the 8th century, among them the Abrogans, and then in Tatian, Otfrid and Notker.^[8][9] It meant “long” in space and time, “long-lasting”, “tall” and “detailed, long-winded”.^[9][10]

Semantic evolution

The word applies to the dimension in which a body is longest, unlike breit and dick, and was transferred from space to time.^[5][4] An old distinction separates the adverb, Old High German lango and today lange, from the adjective; the adverb is now used only of time.^[11][7] The genitive langes, lenges “lengthwise; long ago” became an adverb, giving längs, used as a preposition since the 14th century, and, with a secondary -t, längst.^[4][11]

The adjective has many figurative phrases: lange Finger machen “to steal” (Schiller already speaks of the “army of long fingers”), ein langes Gesicht machen “to look disappointed”, etwas auf die lange Bank schieben “to put something off”.^[5][4] The pair lang und breit is recorded from Maaler (1561); today des Langen und Breiten means “at great length”.^[5] Über kurz oder lang “sooner or later” goes back to Middle High German.^[5] English took the skiing word langlauf in 1927.^[12]

Timeline

• 8th century – Old High German lang appears in glosses.^[8][2]
• 9th century – The noun lengī “length” and the verb langēn “to long for” are recorded.^[4]
• 14th century – längs is used as a preposition.^[4]
• 1561 – Maaler records the pair lang und breit.^[5]
• 1579 – Fischart writes ein Langes und Breites.^[5]
• 1927 – English borrows langlauf “cross-country skiing”.^[12]

Meanings

Adjective

1. long: of great extent in one direction: ein langer Flur, lange Haare.^[13][1]
2. Having a stated length, placed after the measure: ein drei Meter langes Brett.^[13]
3. (colloquial) Of a person: tall.^[13][1]
4. Of a text or speech: lengthy, long-winded: ein langer Bericht.^[13]
5. Lasting a long time: eine lange Reise, nach langem Warten.^[13][1]
6. (with a noun of time) Lasting the stated time, for: zwei Wochen lang.^[13][1]

Adverb

1. (colloquial) For a long time; short for lange.^[1]

Word family

• lange
• längst
• längs
• Länge
• länglich
• langen
• erlangen
• verlangen
• langsam
• Langeweile
• langweilig
• langwierig
• langmütig
• Langfinger
• jahrelang
• verlängern

Related words

• entlang
• Lenz
• English long

Usage notes

Kluge gives a second lang, an adverb: the Low German form of entlang “along”, which has entered the colloquial standard language in phrases such as da lang “that way” and wo’s lang geht “which way it goes” (20th century).^[2] In southern German and Swiss lange Zeit, as in Langeweile, lang expresses how long time feels.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 558
3. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
6. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b c Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 12, 153
8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
9. ^ a b Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 5, 1009
10. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 192
11. ^ a b Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2014), 5th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin / Mannheim / Zürich: Dudenverlag
12. ^ a b Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de
13. ^ a b c d e f Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag