The word "times" for multiplication...?

Question

The word "times" for multiplication operation which is quite touching to the concept of time (feeling time this way 0*1=0). When was introduced that term? Did any other language have the kind of term for multiplication?

Answer 1

Google says it was introduced in late middle English.

Answer 2

See Anthony Lo Bello, Origins of mathematical words : A Comprehensive Dictionary of Latin, Greek, and Arabic Roots (2013), page 218 :

multiple This is derived from the Latin adjective multiplex, multiplicis, which means folded many times. In late Latin, multiplex became multiplus, and this accounts for the absence of the c in multiple.

See latin multiplico

Etymology : From multus (“much, many”) + plicō (“fold, double up”).

This latin plicō, like the ancient Greek : πλεκτός - "plaited, twisted", comes from Indo-European pleḱ- : “to plait, to weave”.

See in English : to fold, manifold, twofold.

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In "current" Italian, we can say :

"due volte dieci fa venti"

for : "two times ten is twenty".

An ancient vernacular manuscript of around 1300 uses :

"doi via dece fa vinti";

see :

• Jens Høyrup, Jacopo da Firenze's Tractatus Algorismi and Early Italian Abbacus Culture (2007), page 204.

Both italian terms (the ancient and the current one) are not strictly connected with time; but in "due volte dieci" the word "volta" is used also in context like "dar la volta", which means : rovesciare, i.e. reverse.

Thus, it share with "times" and similar the role of express a "factor of repetition" or iteration, like in : "how many times ?"