ABSTRACT
The etymological origin of the term ‘long-firm fraud’ is obscure. Dr Johnson (1773) observed that ‘long’ is an adverb meaning ‘by the fault; by the failure. A word now out of use, but truly English’ . Gelang was the old Saxon word for fraudulent, and this could be its source. It is possible that if one puts together this meaning o f ‘long’ and the early usage of ‘firm’ as ‘signature’, this could account for ‘long-firm fraud’ as being a fraud based on false signatures for orders. However, it should be noted that ‘firm’ does not appear in Dr Johnson’s dictionary as a noun meaning ‘business’.
