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To my understanding, Latin doesn't have a dual number at all. The adjectives duo "two" and ambō "both" have some special forms derived from the PIE dual (-ō, -ābus, -ōbus), but are considered irregular rather than part of any real pattern.

However, from an answer to an unrelated question:

By the way, another heterogeneous noun with a similar story behind it is frēnum "rein", pl. frēnī. In this case the Latin masculine plural ending continues what was in PIE terms not a plural at all, but a neuter dual.

This points to another trace of the dual number which I hadn't heard about before.

Are there any other irregularities or fossilized forms in Latin which derive from the dual number in PIE or Proto-Italic?

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up vote 3 down vote

The -ī of vīgintī "20" is originally a dual ending, the same one as in frēnī (PIE *-ih₁). This is why the ending of vīgintī is different from that of the other tens (trīgintā etc.)

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up vote 2 down vote

According to W.M. Lindsay The Latin Language: An Historical Account of Latin Sounds, Stems, and Flexions (p. 253), octo could also be a dual in form, with the sense of 'two sets of four'. He sees a comparison with ambo and duo because of the ending ō-sound.

I don't get why it would mean 'two sets of four' though.

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1  
If the ō-sound is enough, then Cicero must mean "two chickpeas". I hope the sound and eight being an even number were not his only reasons to propose this. – Joonas Ilmavirta♦ 6 hours ago
1  
@JoonasIlmavirta. IE *oḱtō is the dual of a noun the singular of which survives as Avestan ašti- “span, four-fingers length”, as was pointed out by W.B. Henning, Transactions of the Philological Society 1948, p. 69. (Yes, this brilliant article is exactly one page long). – fdb 4 hours ago

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