there has to be a linguistic reason for this. I will find it. https://twitter.com/BlairImani/status/1313305773401731072

I blame Latin.

Let me find out why these losers didn't just call it octem.

Okay wow. So I just remembered why I love etymology.

This is all theory, but here's a semi-detailed explanation:

Proto-Indo-European is the language *theorized* to have birthed Indo-European languages like Latin (Romance), Germanic, Greek, etc.

Linguists research historical commonalities between ancient languages to infer what the original (prototype) langue was.

Languages don't usually start with a cardinal (counting) system. They add these numbers to their vocabulary as needed and they usually hold some sort of cultural / environmental significance.

For example, we go by the decimal system bc we typically have 10 fingers & toes (5 on each).

Na'vi (from Avatar), on the other hand, has an octal system because they have 4 on each.

From what I've read, Proto-Indo-European (PIE) didn't start with numbers and only identified quantity with singular and plural signifiers.

A modern English example would be "(an) apple" vs "apple(s)".

Eventally, they created a word to represent duality (pairs) to refer to things like eyes, ears, hands, etc.

"One" was not yet considered a number because their language system already had a way to denote singularity.

You dont need to say "one" apple if you can already say "an".

So in a sense, "two" is believed by many to be the first number.

Then 3, & then 4.

PIE is believed to have been a quartenary language; NOT a decimal language. Which means their counting cycle ended at 4.

Which brings us to the reason for this thread: where tf did 8 come from?