different between communal vs longhouse

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French communal, from Late Latin comm?n?lis, from Latin comm?nis. Doublet of cominal.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /k??mju?.n?l/, /?k?.mj?.n?l/
• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /k??mju.n?l/

Adjective

communal (comparative more communal, superlative most communal)

1. pertaining to a community
2. shared by a community; public
3. (India) defined by religious ideas; based on religion

   Antonym: secular

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin comm?n?lis, from Latin comm?nis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k?.my.nal/
• Homophones: communale, communales

Adjective

communal (feminine singular communale, masculine plural communaux, feminine plural communales)

1. of or relating to a commune

Related terms

Further reading

• “communal” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

English

Alternative forms

• long house, long-house

Etymology

From long +? house. Use for outhouses possibly via Whittington's Longhouse, a public toilet in medieval London, but first attested in translation of a similar French expression.

Noun

longhouse (plural longhouses)

1. A long communal housing of the Iroquois and some other American Indians, the Malays, the Indonesians, the Vikings, and many other peoples.
   • 1751, C. Gist, Journals, p. 51:

     They marched in under French Colours and were conducted into the Long House.

   • 1753, George Washington, Diary, Vol. I, p. 50:

     We met in Council at the Long House.

   • 1826, James Fenimore Cooper, Last of Mohicans, Vol. I, Preface, p. vi:

     ... where the ‘long house’, or Great Council Fire, of the nation was universally admitted to be established.

   • 1894 May 1, Sarawak Gazette, p. 67:

     The practice of herding together in ‘long houses’ prevents mental and moral improvement and hinders advance in gardening and planting and agricultural developement generally.

   • 1912, Hose & al., Pagan Tribes of Borneo, Vol. I, Ch. iv:

     The Kenyah village frequently consists of a single long house.

   • 1966, G.E. Evans, Pattern under Plough, Ch. v, p. 72:

     The Welsh long-houses... with long sides and opposite doors providing a passage from side to side, and dividing the building roughly in two.

   • 1971 July 15, Lady, p. 88:

     The longhouse is an object lesson in community living.

2. (obsolete, euphemistic) An outhouse: an outbuilding used for urination and defecation.
   • 1622, J. Mabbe translating M. Alemán's Rogue, Ch. ii, p. 355:

     To make wads and wisps for those that go to the Long-house (you know what I meane).

Synonyms

• (outhouse): See Thesaurus:bathroom

Hypernyms

• house

Hypernyms

• house

Translations

References

• Oxford English Dictionary. "long, adj.¹ and n."