lengthy 的詞源

"有長度"（尤指"過長"），1759年，美國英語，源自 length + -y（2）。直到大約1840年，英國英語一直將其視爲美國特色。

This word has been very common among us, both in writing and in the language of conversation; but it has been so much ridiculed by Americans as well as Englishmen, that in writing it is now generally avoided. Mr. Webster has admitted it into his dictionary; but as need hardly be remarked it is not in any of the English ones. It is applied by us, as Mr. Webster justly observes, chiefly to writings or discourses. Thus we say, a lengthy pamphlet, a lengthy sermon, &c. The English would say, a long or (in the more familiar style) a longish sermon. [John Pickering, "A Vocabulary, or Collection of Words and Phrases Which Have Been Supposed to be Peculiar to the United States of America," Boston, 1816]

這個詞在我們中間非常常見，無論是在寫作還是口語中； 但是它被美國人和英國人嘲笑得太多了，以至於在 writing 中現在普遍避免使用。Webster 先生已經將其收錄在他的詞典中； 但是不需要特別指出的是，它並不在任何 English 的詞典中。正如韋伯斯特先生所指出的，我們主要將其應用於書寫或演講。因此，我們說，一本 lengthy 小冊子，一篇 lengthy 佈道，等等。英國人會說，一篇 long 或者（在更熟悉的風格中）一篇 longish 佈道。[約翰·皮克林，"美國獨特詞彙或詞組的詞彙表"，波士頓，1816]

相關詞彙： Lengthily； lengthiness。