Logos

Logos is a noun related to the verb legô, which has the following meanings:

I. Gather, pick up, choose for oneself

II. Count; recount, tell over.

III. Say, speak (never in Homer).

Logos takes its meaning from legô II and III. The LSJ classifies them as follows [the headings in brackets are mine]:

[Thought]

I. Computation, reckoning. As in an account of money handled, or more generally giving an account of one's actions. Also of the esteem or value put on a person or thing.

II. Relation, proportions, or a ratio in mathematics.

III. Explanation. Plea, pretext; argument; proposition; rule, principle; thesis, hypothesis; reason, ground; formula, definition.

IV. Inward debate of the soul, thinking, reasoning; reason as a faculty. (See Theaetetus 189e).

[Speech]

V. Continuous statement, narrative; sometimes opposed to myth, but sometimes of fables or legends. Story. A speech in court.

VI. Verbal utterance, usually more than a single word. Talk, expression, phrase. Often contrasted with ergon: Not in word alone, but in deed. Common talk, tradition or rumor. Discussion, debate, dialogue.

VII A particular utterance: an oracle, proverb, resolution, or command.

VIII. Thing spoken of: subject matter.

IX. Particular forms of utterance: intelligible utterance (as opposed to mere sound); prose (versus poetry); dialogue (versus choral lyric); in grammar, a phrase or sentence, or language as a whole.

[A special religious usage]

X. The word or wisdom of God: koine.

Johnson's story:

It would seem then that the root meaning of these terms is to pick up or gather; from that we get to counting, and then, as counting oft takes verbal form, speech. Compare our 'account,' and 'recount' from 'count.' Thought comes either because thinking is regularly done in language, or, perhaps, because counting requires thought. Others, though, may more directly tie gathering to speaking, perhaps with speech being a gathering of sounds.