So long??

[gouda]

Why, why, why do we say "so long!!" as a farewell??

[andros]

According the the handy-dandy Oxford English Dictionary, it dates from 1865 in English and looks to be an Anglicization of the German so lange, which means something like "that's enough" or "that's all."

[UDS]

This site http://phrases.shu.ac.uk/bulletin_board/3/messages/616.html dismisses the idea that it is from Arabic "salaam" or Hebrew "shalom" and suggests that it is just a conventional abbreviation for some such expression as 'Don't let it be so long until we meet again'.

I have heard it suggested - I have no authority and no cite - that it is an anglicisation of "slán", a Gaelic expression used as a farewell. It's pronounced something like "slawn".

[gouda]

I know german pretty well, and have lived there for about a year, in various parts of the country, and I'm pretty sure so lange doesn't mean "thats enough" or "thats all". But then again, in 1865, maybe!

[andros]

Sorry, you're quite right. I lost a bit in c&p.

Read that as "Which I assume meant something like 'that's that'."