Why do we say “So long as” you are home early. What does the long part mean?
I think it was Charles Berlitz who explained it as a loanword from an alleged Malay word, “salang.” According to him, that was a Malay alteration of the Arabic word salâm. Except… Berlitz didn’t know what he was talking about.
I spent 2 years in Malaysia and learned to speak the language, and never once heard anyone say “salang.” They say “assalamu alaikum” in Arabic for greeting, and for goodbye they say “selamat jalan” or “selamat tinggal” (depending on whether you’re staying or going).
But I looked up the word salang in the Malay dictionary, and it means “To execute by the kris; done by driving a long rapier-like kris down past the collarbone to the heart.” Make of that what you will.
Jomo Thanks for the contribution. When I read it, I immediately pulled out my Leo Rosten. You said *alaikum/i] which triggered “sholem aleichem” in my memory, from the Yiddish.’
Rosten contributes thus: “Muslims use the same salutation and virtually the same phrasing, except that Muslims begin with an s instead of an sh, and use a k instead of a kh; thus; salaam aleikum.”
I’m not sure where the phrase so long meaning goodbye came from*, but the phrase in the OP is a bit diferent.
Originally, it would not have occurred in the phrase “so long as you are home early, then . . . .” It would have occurred in the phrase “So long as you continue your current behavior, then . . . .” It meant “as long as you are doing this action, this will be the result”, “For the length of time that this event occurs, this reaction/consequence/whatever will be in force.”
Over time, the exact meaning (“If you continue this action”/“If this action continues”) was shortened in concept to simply “if”.
*farewell:
The OED notes “so long” as a farewell to 1865 and links it (without further comment than calling it colloquial) to the German phrase so lange. My German references do not provide enough etymology to illuminate that specific use, but I will rashly speculate that it means something like “So long as you are gone, I will miss you” or “So long as you are gone may God keep you safe” or some similar sentiment.
According to my Webster’s, “so long” is “prb. by folk etymology fr. Gael. slán lit., health, security…” I’ve never heard “so long” as a greeting.