etymology - Is the word tenfold a misnomer?


The dictionary definition is



ten times as great or as much



I believe that this is a misnomer. The word seems to describe a process of folding something ten times; for example, a piece of paper. If you fold a piece of paper ten times you will get 210 or 1024 different rectangles.


I don't understand how the definition of this word came to be and how is it different from the phrase ten times?



Answer



The suffix -fold is not in any way related to the word fold in modern English. It is a way of indicating a multiplicative product, except in the word manifold which is indefinitely numerous.


Etymonline says



-fold: multiplicative suffix, from O.E. -feald, related to O.N. -faldr; Ger. -falt; Goth. falþs; Gk. -paltos, -plos; L. -plus.


fold (v.): O.E. faldan (Mercian), fealdan (W.Saxon), transitive, "to bend cloth back over itself" …. Related: Folded; folding. The noun meaning "a bend or ply in anything" is mid-13c., from the verb.



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