longe

Forms

longe (comparable, comparative mais longe, superlative o mais longe)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin longē (“far, a long way”), written Old Galician-Portuguese longe in the oldest texts, beside Old Galician-Portuguese longi.^[2][3][1][4] The Latin adverb is formed from the adjective longus (“long”) with the adverb ending -ē.^[1][5]

The same Latin word is Galician lonxe, Old Spanish lueñe, Catalan lluny, French loin and Italian lungi.^[6][7] Spanish keeps lueñe as an old word.^[8]

De Vaan derives the Latin adjective from Proto-Italic *dlongo- and Proto-Indo-European *dlongʰ-o-, related to Lithuanian ìlgas (“long”) and Hittite talugai- (“long”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria have se daqui longe for “if he goes far from here” and de mui longe “from very far away”, and Roi Martinz do Casal writes poys que uiuedes de min tan longe “since you live so far from me”.^[10] A place name Longe already appears in the royal inquiries of 1258.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The adverb kept the Latin sense, “far in space”, and was extended to time.^[2] It is also an adjective of two genders, mainly in the plural before the noun, longes terras “distant lands”, a use recorded in the 14th century as lonjas.^[2][11] As a masculine plural noun, longes named the background of a painting in the 16th century; from 1651 it also meant glimpses or prospects, and it can mean a faint resemblance.^[2][12] Morais (1813) records estar longe de “to be far from (doing)” and the sense “greatly”, as in longe excede “far surpasses”.^[13]

Timeline

• 1258 – Longe as a place name in the royal inquiries.^[2]
• 13th century – longe and longi in the cantigas.^[10][2]
• 14th century – lõnge as an adverb and lonjas as an adjective.^[2]
• c. 1350 – the earliest CTA text with the word, the Trasladação de S. Nicolau.^[14]
• 16th century – longes “background of a painting”.^[2]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses it with Latin longe and procul.^[15]
• 1651 – longes “prospects”.^[2]

Meanings

Adverb

1. far, at a great distance: A escola fica longe de casa.^[2][11][1]
2. Far off in time, past or future: As férias ainda estão longe.^[2][16]
3. (in comparisons) By far: é de longe o melhor.^[17][13]

Adjective

1. distant, remote, mostly in the plural before the noun: longes terras.^[1][11][18]

Interjection

1. Away!, expressing aversion or an order to keep off.^[17][11]

Noun

1. (plural, art) The background of a painting, drawing or photograph.^[2][18]
2. (plural, figurative) Glimpses, prospects; a faint resemblance; distant past times.^[2][12]

Related words

• longo
• longínquo
• alongar
• Latin longus
• Galician lonxe

Usage notes

Common phrases are ao longe “in the distance”, de longe “from afar” and de longe a longe “now and then”;^[12][16] ir longe means “to go far, have consequences”.^[12][16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. longe
3. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. longo
4. ^ Universo Cantigas: Glosario da poesía medieval profana galego-portuguesa, A Coruña: Instituto da Lingua e Literatura (ILLA), Universidade da Coruña, https://www.universocantigas.gal, p. s.v. longe
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. longē
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5116
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. longe
8. ^ 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. lueñe
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. longus
10. ^ a b Instituto da Lingua Galega, Dicionario de dicionarios do galego medieval (DDGM), ed. Ernesto González Seoane, Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/ddgm, p. s.v. longe
11. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. longe
12. ^ a b c d Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 5760
13. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 235
14. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. longe
15. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. longe
16. ^ a b c Aulete, Francisco Júlio Caldas, Dicionário contemporâneo da língua portuguesa (1st ed. 1881), online as Aulete Digital, Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, https://aulete.com.br, p. s.v. longe
17. ^ a b Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, revised online edition (2023–) of the Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa Contemporânea (2001), https://dicionario.acad-ciencias.pt, p. s.v. longe
18. ^ a b Michaelis: Moderno Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, São Paulo: Melhoramentos (online as Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa, https://michaelis.uol.com.br), p. s.v. longe