osam (Serbo-Croatian)
Where does "osam" come from?
The Serbo-Croatian word 'osam' traces its roots back to the ancient Proto-Indo-European term *oḱtṓw, which originally described the breadth of four fingers. This ancient root evolved through Proto-Balto-Slavic into the Proto-Slavic *osmь before finally settling into its modern form as the number eight.
Full etymology tree
- osam (Serbo-Croatian), 'eight (8)'
- inherited *osmь (Proto-Slavic), 'eight'
- inherited *aśtṓni (Proto-Balto-Slavic)
- inherited *oḱtṓw (Proto-Indo-European), 'eight'
- derived *(H)oḱto- (Proto-Indo-European)
- inherited *oḱtṓw (Proto-Indo-European), 'eight'
- inherited *aśtṓni (Proto-Balto-Slavic)
- inherited *osmь (Proto-Slavic), 'eight'
Ancestors
- *osmь (Proto-Slavic)
- *oḱtṓw (Proto-Indo-European)
Updated July 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris