ABSTRACT
The adjective long, the noun length and the verb lengthen are partly alike and partly different in form (the way they sound and the way they are written) and partly alike and partly different in meaning. If we take long as the one that has the simplest form, we can say that the noun and the verb are derived from the adjective by certain processes. The noun length is derived from the adjective long by the addition of -th and a change, or mutation, of o to e. The verb lengthen is formed by another addition, namely -en. These formal processes are fairly easy to describe. Semantic relations are more subtle. The noun length is an abstract term, roughly ‘the amount or extent by which something is considered long’ (the length of a room, the length of a day) or a concrete term for a piece of something that is measured linearly (a length of rope). The verb lengthen is approximately ‘to make longer’ (to lengthen a skirt) or ‘to become longer’ (“Days lengthen after the vernal equinox”). In form the verb lengthen seems to be derived from the noun length, but when we consider meanings, the sense of lengthen is derived directly from that of the adjective long.
