Etymologically
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long

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /lɔ̃/[1]
  • IPA: /lɔ̃.k‿/[1]
  • IPA: /lɔ̃.ɡ‿/[1]

Forms

long (feminine longue, masculine plural longs, feminine plural longues)[1] Old French lonc, feminine longe; the feminine longue replaced longe in the 12th century, and the masculine long was remade from it in the 14th.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French lonc, inherited from Latin longus (“long, extended”).[4][5][6][7][1] The Latin word, used of both space and time like Ancient Greek μακρός (makrós), is related to Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐌲𐌲𐍃 (laggs, “long”) but has no counterpart in the eastern Indo-European languages.[5] Littré found its further etymology obscure.[8]

The old feminine “longe” survives as the noun longe “halter”.[6] Cognate with Romanian lung, Italian lungo, Occitan long, Portuguese longo and English long.[9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the second half of the 10th century the Vie de saint Léger uses it of time, “lasting a long while”; the Vie de saint Alexis (about 1050) has lunga atente “a long, wearisome wait”.[4]

Semantic evolution

The spatial sense, “of great length”, is in the Chanson de Roland (about 1100), which also says of a voice mult lunge, “carrying far”.[4] Long hair or beards appear about 1160, and long speeches about 1150.[4] In grammar it qualified vowels and syllables from the 14th century.[4][5]

As a noun, set piez de lonc “seven feet long” is in Chrétien de Troyes (1176–81); de son long dates from 1464, à la longue from about 1260 and en long et en large from 1676, continuing Old French en lonc ou en lé (1230).[4][5][11] The adverb en savoir long is from before 1707.[4] In African and Middle Eastern French long also means “tall” of a person.[5]

Timeline

  • 2nd half of the 10th century – Temporal use in the Vie de saint Léger.[4]
  • c. 1050 – Lunga atente in the Vie de saint Alexis.[4]
  • c. 1100 – Spatial use in the Chanson de Roland.[4]
  • 12th century – The feminine longue replaces longe.[5][6]
  • c. 1260 – À la longue.[4]
  • 1464 – De son long.[4]
  • 1676 – En long et en large in Madame de Sévigné.[4][11]
  • 1811 – De long en large.[4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. long: of great length: une longue tige, une robe longue.[9][12]
  2. Of a given length: long de cent mètres.[4][13]
  3. Lasting a long time: un long voyage; tedious: le temps paraît long.[4][9]
  4. Slow: long à comprendre.[4]
  5. (phonetics) Long, of a vowel or syllable.[4]

Noun

  1. length: trois mètres de long, tomber de tout son long.[1][4]
  2. Le long de: along, de long en large: up and down.[4]

Adverb

  1. En dire long, en savoir long: to say or know a great deal.[13]

Word family

  • longe
  • loin
  • longitude
  • Latin longus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  5. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 5, 406b
  8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  9. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  11. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  12. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
  13. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)