Re: Numbers from 1-10

In a message dated 8/31/2003 6:15:04 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
endipatterson@YAHOO.COM writes:


>I suspect that proto-Germanic might have had [a base 12 system] because >
eleven and
>twelve don't end in -teen.

I suspect not.  I seem to recall reading somewhere that the origin of
"twelve" was a compound meaning something like "two-left" i.e., "a nice round group
of ten with two spares left over," and that the etymology of "eleven" was
similar.  That is, both words reflect a base-10 system, just as "thirteen" does.

I might be misremembering.  Surely someone here can check that out.

Doug

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