luengo

Forms

luengo (feminine luenga, masculine plural luengos, feminine plural luengas, superlative longuísimo or luenguísimo)^[1] Old Spanish also wrote longo, and aluengo.^[2][3] The Judeo-Spanish Bible of Constantinople has longo; the rare lungo is an occasional Italianism.^[4] Asturian has llongu.^[5][6]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish luengo, inherited from Latin longus (“long”).^[4][7][8][1] The same Latin word is Portuguese longo, Galician longo, Asturian llongu, Catalan llong, French long, Italian lungo and Romanian lung.^[9][6][1]

The Latin adjective goes back to Proto-Indo-European *dlongʰos.^[10][1] Its closest cognates are Germanic: Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐌲𐌲𐍃 (laggs), Old High German lang and English long.^[10][11][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the word to the beginnings of the language: the Glosas Silenses and a charter of 994.^[4][7] Alfonso X's Lapidario describes a stone always found en forma luenga mas que ancha nin redonda “in a long shape rather than broad or round”, and his Libro de las cruces (1259) uses it for “distant”: enemies uernan de luenga terra “will come from a far land”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Luengo was the general word for “long” throughout the Middle Ages.^[4] In the 16th century it began to sound old-fashioned and gave way to largo.^[4][12] Juan de Valdés still used it gladly, quoting the proverb de luengas vías, luengas mentiras; the first Lazarillo (1554) has it, but Luna's continuation (1620) does not, and in the Quijote it marks the archaic style of the chivalric passages.^[4] Covarrubias gave it the senses “long” and “distant”, with the proverb a luengas vías, luengas mentiras.^[13] The Diccionario de Autoridades added a sense from the thieves' cant, “principal”.^[14] The Academy marked the adjective as antiquated in 1817; today it survives in literary phrases such as luengas barbas and luengos años.^[15][16]

In Seville luengo is a noun for the central piece of the head of a cask.^[17] The word also survives in place names: Navaluenga became Navalengua in Albacete.^[6]

Timeline

• 994 – a charter in Oelschläger's list; about the same time the Glosas Silenses.^[4][7]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses luenga “long”.^[3]
• 1259 – the Libro de las cruces uses luenga terra “a distant land”.^[3]
• 1494 – first record from the Americas, luengo camino in Santo Domingo.^[18]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives luenga cosa for Latin longus.^[4]
• 1554 – the first Lazarillo still uses it.^[4]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records a luengas vías, luengas mentiras and lueñes tierras.^[13]
• 1817 – the Academy marks it as antiquated.^[15]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology Latin longus.^[19]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (literary) long: Tenía una luenga barba blanca.^[8][1][16]

Noun

1. (feminine, luenga; obsolete) delay.^[8]

Related words

• lueñe
• longitud
• prolongar
• longevo
• Latin longus

Usage notes

The DLE keeps the old adverbial phrases a la luenga “in the long run; lengthwise” and en luengo “lengthwise”, both disused.^[8] The proverb de luengas vías, luengas mentiras says that tales from distant lands are full of lies.^[4][14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. luengo
3. ^ a b c d Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. luengo
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 708
5. ^ Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (2000), Diccionariu de la Llingua Asturiana, Uviéu: ALLA; online at https://mas.academiadelallingua.com/diccionariu, p. s.v. llongu
6. ^ a b c García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. art. 3943
7. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. luengo
8. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. luengo
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. luengo
13. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1094
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 536
16. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. luengo
17. ^ Alcalá Venceslada, Antonio (1951), Vocabulario andaluz, Madrid: Real Academia Española, p. 366
18. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. luengo
19. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 653