Etymograph

English

oitava

Oitava comes from Old Galician-Portuguese oitavo, from Latin octāvus ‘eighth’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *oḱtṓwos.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*oḱtṓwos1‘eighth’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*oktāwos1‘eighth’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEoctāvus2‘eighth’
  4. Old Galician-Portuguesec. 1100–1500oitavo2
  5. Portuguesec. 1500–presentoitava2
  6. Englishtodayoitava2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin octavus
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English oitava

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*oḱtṓwosWiktionary, Latin octavus‘eighth’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*oktāwosWiktionary, Latin octavus‘eighth’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEoctāvusWiktionary, English oitava‘eighth’
  4. Old Galician-Portuguesec. 1100–1500oitavoWiktionary, English oitava
  5. Portuguesec. 1500–presentoitavaWiktionary, English oitava
  6. EnglishtodayoitavaWiktionary, English oitava

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *oḱtṓw ‘eight’

eight, aught, 17 more

through Latin octāvus ‘eighth’

octave, octavo, 2 more

Today it means

noun A traditional Portuguese unit of dry measure, equivalent to 1.6–2.4 liters in different 19th-century contexts.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “oitava”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin octavus. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *oḱtṓwos / oitava

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