Etymology
1. O.E.
lang, long, from P.Gmc.
*langgaz (cf. O.H.G., Ger.
lang, O.N.
langr, M.Du.
lanc, Goth.
laggs "long"), perhaps from PIE
*dlonghos- (cf. L.
longus, O.Pers.
darga-, Pers.
dirang, Skt.
dirghah, Gk.
dolikhos "long," Gk.
endelekhes "perpetual," L.
indulgere "to indulge"). The adv. is from O.E.
lange, longe, from the adjective. The word illustrates the O.E. tendency for short "a" to become short "o" before
-n- (also retained in
bond/band and W. Midlands dial.
lond from
land and
hond from
hand).
Long vowels (c.1000) originally were pronounced for an extended time.
Long-playing (phonograph record) is from 1929; abbreviation
LP is from 1948.
Long-bow, the characteristic medieval Eng. weapon, is attested from c.1500.
Longhair is 1920 in the sense of "intellectual," especially in musical tastes, "devotee of classical music;" sense of "hippie" took over 1969.
Long-distance in ref. to telephoning is from 1884.
Long in the tooth (1852) is from horses showing age by recession of gums.
Long shot in the fig. sense of "something unlikely" is from 1867.
Long-term (adj.) is from 1908.
Long run "ultimate outcome" is attested from 1627.
Long time no see, imitative of Amer.Indian speech, is first recorded 1900.
Long-winded "given to lengthy speeches" is from 1589.
2. Etymology tree
3. Proto-Indo-European *dlongʰos
4. Proto-Germanic *langaz
5. Proto-West Germanic *lang
6. Old English lang
7. Middle English long
8. English long
9. From Middle English long, lang, from Old English long, lang (“long, tall, lasting”), from Proto-West Germanic *lang, from Proto-Germanic *langaz (“long”), from Proto-Indo-European *dlongʰos (“long”).
10. Cognates
11. Cognate with Scots lang (“long”), Yola lhaung, long (“long”), North Frisian long, lung, lüng (“long”), Saterland Frisian loang (“long”), West Frisian lang (“long”), Cimbrian lång (“long”), Dutch, German, and Low German lang (“long”), Luxembourgish laang (“long”), Mòcheno lònk (“long”), Vilamovian łaong (“long”), Yiddish לאַנג (lang, “long”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk lang (“long”), Faroese and Icelandic langur (“long”), Swedish lång (“long”), Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐌲𐌲𐍃 (laggs, “long”); also Latin longus (“long”) (whence French long (“long”), Italian lungo (“long”), Portuguese longo (“long”), Spanish luengo (“long”)), Ancient Greek δολιχός (dolikhós, “long; wearisome”), Albanian gjatë (“long; tall”), Latvian ilgs (“long”), Lithuanian ilgas (“long”), Belarusian до́ўгі (dówhi, “long”), Bulgarian дъ́лъг (dắlăg, “long”), Czech dlúhý (“long”), Macedonian долг (dolg, “long”), Polish długi (“long”), Russian дли́нный (dlínnyj, “lengthy, long”), до́лгий (dólgij, “long”), Serbo-Croatian ду̏г, dȕg (“long”), Slovak dlhý (“long”), Slovene dolg (“long”), Ukrainian до́вгий (dóvhyj, “long”), Ossetian даргъ (darǧ, “late”), Central Kurdish دێر (dêr), درەنگ (dreng, “late”), Northern Kurdish dereng (“late”), Persian دیر (dēr / dir, “late; long”), درنگ (derang, “delay”), Sanskrit दीर्घ (dīrgha, “long”) (whence Bengali দীর্ঘ (dirgho, “long; tall”), Dhivehi ދިގު (digu, “long, lengthy”), Kalasha driga, dríga (“long; tall”), Kholosi taɽgo (“long”), Khowar درونگ (drung, “long”), Hindi दीर्घ (dīrgh, “long; tall; weighty”), Nepali दिघो (digho, “stable”), Odia ଦୀର୍ଘ (dirgha, “long”), Sinhalese දිග (diga, “long”), Urdu دیرگھ (dīrgh, “long; tall; weighty”)), Kamkata-viri drëgeř, drëgëř, drëŋëň, dërëgeň (“long; tall”), Prasuni jigni (“long; tall”).
12. The word shows the regular historical change of a to o before certain consonant clusters such as ng (compare with other examples in Middle and Modern English such as bond, song, throng, and wrong). The o-form may have also been reinforced by Old French long, from Latin longus, from the same Indo-European word. Doublet of lungo and lunge.
Verbs referencing "long"
Icelandic
langa, Danish
lange.