-longsuffix

Etymology: Partly (i) (forming adjectives indicating duration of time) < long adj.¹, partly (ii) (forming adjectives and also adverbs indicating direction in space) < -long (in along adv.) or the Germanic base underlying this, and partly (in later use) (iii) (forming prepositions, and adverbs and adjectives indicating position or situation) < -long (in along prep. or along adv., perhaps via endlong prep.: see note below). It is unclear whether the Germanic base underlying along adj.², prep., and adv. is in fact the same as long adj.¹ or not (see discussion at the former entry), however it seems likely that in Old English temporal and spatial uses of the suffix (whatever their ultimate origin) were apprehended as showing the same word (compare note below). In later use in group (iii) approaching -ling suffix² in sense and sometimes regarded as a variant of this; compare e.g. headlong adv.; compare also (conversely) endelyng at endlong prep., adv., and adj. Forms.Formations are found from the Old English period onwards: in group (i) e.g. daylong adj., night-long adj., which could alternatively be interpreted as direct compounds of long adj.¹; in group (ii) e.g. Old English ēastlang (adjective) lying in an easterly direction, extending eastwards, (adverb) to the east, in an easterly direction, westlang (adjective) lying in a westerly direction, extending westwards, (adverb) to the west, in a westerly direction; evenlong prep. (at least in some Middle English uses) and evenlong adv. (15th cent.) probably show isolated later formations. Formations in group (iii) are attested in early Middle English in endlong prep. (which apparently originated as a folk-etymological alteration of along prep. and may have facilitated the development of this use), and later (forming adverbs) in endlong adv., headlong adv., neselong adv. at nese n. Compounds (all late 14th cent.). Parallel adverb formations with -longs suffix are attested for all three groups, earliest in Old English in group (i) (compare e.g. night-longs adv.), suggesting that, despite their apparently different origins, such uses were interpreted as senses of the same suffix from an early date. Apparent later formations in group (i) (as e.g. age-long adj., year-long adj., month-long adj., summer-long adj. 2) probably show direct compounds with long adj.¹; likewise occasional apparent later formations in group (ii) (as e.g. hedgelong adj., uplong prep., uplong adj., downlong adj., downlong prep.) show either direct compounds with long adj.¹ or independent formations after -long in along prep. or along adv.