Editing 8 (section)

== Etymology ==
English ''eight'', from Old English {{Lang|ang|eahta}}'', æhta'', [[Proto-Germanic]] ''*ahto'' is a direct continuation of [[Proto-Indo-European numerals|Proto-Indo-European]] ''[[:wikt:Appendix:Proto-Indo-European/oḱtṓw|*oḱtṓ(w)]]-'', and as such cognate with Greek {{lang|grc|ὀκτώ}} and Latin {{Lang|la|octo-}}, both of which stems are reflected by the English prefix [[:wikt:oct-|oct(o)-]], as in the ordinal adjective ''octaval'' or ''octavary'', the distributive adjective is ''[[octonary]]''.
The adjective ''octuple'' (Latin {{Lang|la|octu-plus}}) may also be used as a noun, meaning "a set of eight items"; the diminutive ''[[octuplet]]'' is mostly used to refer to eight siblings delivered in one birth.

The [[Semitic numerals|Semitic numeral]] is based on a root ''*θmn-'', whence Akkadian ''smn-'', Arabic ''ṯmn-'', Hebrew ''šmn-'' etc.
<!--possibly but not certainly related to Egyptioan ''χmn-''-->
The [[Chinese numeral]], written {{lang|zh|八}} ([[Standard Mandarin|Mandarin]]: ''bā''; [[Cantonese language|Cantonese]]: ''baat''), is from [[Old Chinese]] ''*priāt-'', ultimately from Sino-Tibetan [[:wikt:Appendix:Proto-Sino-Tibetan/b-r-gjat ~ b-g-rjat|''b-r-gyat'' or ''b-g-ryat'']] which also yielded Tibetan ''[[:wikt:བརྒྱད|brgyat]]''.
<!--https://books.google.ch/books?id=nIvqAC7FNBQC&q=eight#v=onepage&q&f=false-->

It has been argued that, as the [[cardinal number]] {{num|7}} is the highest number of items that can universally be [[The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two|cognitively processed]] as a single set, the etymology of the numeral ''eight'' might be the first to be considered composite, either as "twice four" or as "two short of ten", or similar.
The [[Turkic languages|Turkic]] words for "eight" are from a [[Proto-Turkic]] stem ''*sekiz'', which has been suggested as originating as a negation of ''eki'' "two", as in "without two fingers" (i.e., "two short of ten; two fingers are not being held up");<ref>''Etymological Dictionary of Turkic Languages: Common Turkic and Interturkic stems starting with letters «L», «M», «N», «P», «S»'', Vostochnaja Literatura RAS, 2003, 241f. ([http://altaica.ru/LIBRARY/e_edtl.htm altaica.ru] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071031074630/http://altaica.ru/LIBRARY/e_edtl.htm |date=31 October 2007 }})</ref>
this same principle is found in [[Finnic languages|Finnic]] ''[[:wikt:Appendix:Proto-Finnic/kakteksa|*kakte-ksa]]'', which conveys a meaning of "two before (ten)". The Proto-Indo-European reconstruction ''[[:wikt:Appendix:Proto-Indo-European/oḱtṓw|*oḱtṓ(w)]]-'' itself has been argued as representing an old dual, which would correspond to an original meaning of "twice four".
Proponents of this "quaternary hypothesis" adduce the numeral ''{{num|9}}'', which might be built on the stem ''new-'', meaning "new" (indicating the beginning of a "new set of numerals" after having counted to eight).<ref>the hypothesis is discussed critically (and rejected as "without sufficient support") by
Werner Winter, 'Some thought about Indo-European numerals' in: Jadranka Gvozdanović (ed.),
''Indo-European Numerals'', Walter de Gruyter, 1992, 14f.</ref>