Why was the pattern that newlands developed called law of octaves?

The Newlands' Law of Octaves was proposed by the English chemist John Newlands in 1865. The law stated that when arranging elements in the order of their atomic masses, every eighth element has similar properties. He observed this pattern by arranging the then known elements in a table of eight columns and noticed that elements with similar chemical properties appeared at regular intervals. Newlands compared this pattern to the octave in music, where every eighth note is a repetition of the first.

However, Newlands' law had its limitations. It only worked well for the first 17 elements, and there were exceptions and irregularities beyond that point. Additionally, Newlands did not provide a clear explanation for why this pattern occurred. As more elements were discovered and studied, the periodic table evolved and other, more comprehensive models were developed.