oft-told

The compound adjective 'oft-told' is a transparent construction from two native English elements. The first element, 'oft', is an ancient Germanic adverb for frequency, cognate with German 'oft', and survives in modern English primarily in fixed phrases and literary use. The second element is the past participle 'told', from the verb 'tell', which originally meant 'to count' before specializing to mean 'to narrate'. The literal meaning, "often narrated," directly conveys the modern sense of a story or account that has been repeated so frequently it has become overly familiar. Its formation follows a common Germanic pattern for creating compound adjectives, similar to 'well-known' or 'oft-repeated'.

Structure: oft (often) + told (told) oft: From Old English 'oft', meaning 'often'. An archaic or poetic adverb, now largely replaced by 'often'. told: Past participle of the verb 'tell', from Old English 'tellan', meaning 'to count, relate, narrate'.