GR translation: long worded over

[Mike Jing]

V589.21-30, P599.30-39   There have happened, though rarely, in
geographical space, journeys taken northward on very blue, fire-blue seas,
chilled, crowded by floes, to the final walls of ice. Our judgment lapsed,
fatally: we paid more attention to the Pearys and Nansens who returned—and
worse, we named what they did “success,” though they failed. Because they
came back, back to fame, to praise, they failed. We only wept for Sir John
Franklin and Salomon Andrée: mourned their cairns and bones, and missed
among the poor frozen rubbish the announcements of their victory. By the
time we had the technology to make such voyages easy, we had long worded
over all ability to know victory or defeat.

What does "long worded over" mean exactly?