Is 永い間 read 【ながいま】?

Question

Reading this book

いつまでもいつまでもお元気で

特攻隊員たちが遺した

最後の言葉

知覧特攻平和会館

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-4794218308

I found the sentence

永【なが】い間【ま】、本当【ほんとう】に有難【ありがと】うございました。
Thank you for everything you have done for me over the years.

永【なが】い protracted; prolonged

間【ま】 time; pause

Did I get the reading correct above? These are letters written in 1945 style Japanese, so I thought I should check. It contains words such as

母上【ははうえ】(used in pre-Meiji samurai families) mother

Answer 1

Unless there is something peculiar to his dialect, it should be read as ながいあいだ. At least in modern standard Japanese, it's definitely あいだ.

間 read as ま normally means "pause; interval; break" or "timing", but neither of them fits the context. It doesn't refer to a long period of time in general.

ま【間】

４ 連続している事と事のあいだの時間。ひま。いとま。「食事をする―もない」
５ 話の中に適当にとる無言の時間。「話は―が大切だ」
６ 邦楽・舞踊・演劇などで、拍と拍、動作と動作、せりふとせりふなどのあいだの時間的間隔。転じて、リズムやテンポの意に用いる。「―をとる」「―を外す」

７ ちょうどよい折。しおどき。ころあい。機会。「―を見計らう」