510: fold and -fold May 1, 2016

To fold a piece of paper makes it twice as thick as it was originally, a fact which ought not to come as a surprise to anyone. Although the word has taken on other uses, in geology, and poker every one of them dates back to the Old English word, 'falden, fealden', in the sense of bending. Even though, the suffix '-fold' as in 'twofold' comes from a different Old English suffx '-fald, -feald', it was always related to the sense of bending something as a means to increase size.