longue durée

English

Borrowed from French longue durée (“long duration”). Attested since the 1960s.

longue durée (uncountable)

(historiography, social sciences) A long period of time during which social processes develop or social structures evolve.
- 1978, Lynn Avery Hunt, Revolution and Urban Politics in Provincial France: Troyes and Reims, 1786-1790, Stanford University Press, →ISBN, page 1:
  The "Annales" school draws attention to the virtually unchanging geography of a region, the rising and ebbing movements of the economy, or the rhythmic repetitions in social relations — i.e., to the "longue duree" — rather than to those fleeting events we call political.
An approach to the study of history over such long periods.
The long term; a relatively long period of time.
- 1976, Jean Franco, “Foreword”, in The Decapitated Chicken and Other Stories, University of Wisconsin Press, →ISBN, page xv:
  The longue duree of river and rocks throws into relief the trivial pursuits of the dying man whose last thoughts are of a briefer time span.

The term longue durée is especially associated with French historians and social scientists of the Annales School.

historiographical term, "long lines of history"