of/from several decades

Question

In the following sentence is the usage of of idiomatic?

Mr. Bhat of Shopian in south Kashmir, the largest apple producing area in J&K, says he cannot betray his trade partners of several decades in Lucknow and Delhi. He fears the government’s offer can damage the age-old social and economic ties the Valley have with the rest of India.

I think in place of of from should be used because from shows the origin of time/place

I think there is something wrong with have too. Because valley is singular noun and hence has should be used in place of have

Tanner Swett · Answer

One of the uses of the word "of" is to indicate the amount of time that somebody has been something. For example,

"my wife of ten years" means "my wife, who has been my wife for ten years," and
"his trade partners of several decades" means "his trade partners, who have been his trade partners for several decades."

As far as I know, the word "from" is not used that way.

However, there is a similar construction, the "from ... ago" construction, which has a similar meaning:

"my classmate from twenty years ago" means "someone who was my classmate twenty years ago," and
"his trade partners from several decades ago" would mean "some people who were his trade partners several decades ago."

As for "economic ties the Valley have," my guess is that "the Valley" is being used to mean "the people who live in the Valley." Sometimes, a noun that has a plural meaning takes a plural verb, even if the noun itself seems to be singular; this is especially common in British English.

Or maybe it's just a mistake, and the writer meant to write "economic ties the Valley has."

of/from several decades

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