The word "folio" is of German origin. In German, it was formed from the Latin word folium, which means “leaf” in translation. That is, it is understood that the text was written or printed on each side of a sheet folded in half, and then the pages were stitched or glued together to form a book. Two pages of the book were obtained from one sheet.
One of the meanings of the word “folio” given in the encyclopedic dictionary reads as follows: this is a publication printed in half a paper sheet. However, other interpretations of the word are more common. In ancient times, until paper was invented, its role was played by parchment - thin, specially treated animal skin.
Of course, the book, consisting of many sheets of parchment, was very thick and weighty. Therefore, one of the meanings of the word "folio" is interpreted as follows: a thick book of large format (usually old). This definition is given, for example, in the explanatory dictionary of the Russian language edited by Ozhegov. That is, the word “folio” involuntarily presents a heavy, solid book, which is not so easy to hold in your hands. And even when parchment replaced paper, such publications remained heavy because of their large volume.
Using this word, people mean, first of all, an old book, a chronicle, a manuscript, etc. That is, a historical written source that tells about an era, its orders and events. However, the word "folio" can be used to designate a much more modern book. For example, there are still TSB volumes (large Soviet encyclopedia), various dictionaries of foreign languages, explanatory dictionaries, and similar publications in the home libraries of residents of the country. They are large format and very heavy. Therefore, they can also be called tomes in the same way. This is reflected in the explanatory dictionary of the Russian language, edited by Efimova. Along with the already mentioned definition of a folio, the colloquial meaning of this word is also given in the dictionary: "A folio is a thick large-format book." That is, it does not have to be old.
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