Counting

[Steve]

Eleven and twelve....where'd they come from?

The numbers one through ten have unique names, that's intuitively understandable.

Each of the powers of ten has a unique name; that's also understandable.

And, in between the powers of ten, the naming convention for numbers is very simple, and consistent across the board.  Once a child learns to count to thirty, and knows the powers of ten, he or she can can as is needed.

So, where did eleven and twelve come from?  Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen...all the teens make sense and are alike. 

Why do we have unique names for eleven and twelve?

[Violet1966]

Maybe it's because "oneteen" and "twoteen" just sound too silly?

I've actually thought about that myself.

This is what the dictionary has to say about them....

Main Entry: elev·en
Pronunciation: i-'le-v&n
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English enleven, from enleven, adjective, from Old English endleofan, from end- (alteration of An one) + -leofan; akin to Old English lEon to lend -- more at ONE, LOAN
Date: before 12th century

Main Entry: twelve
Pronunciation: 'twelv
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English twelf; akin to Old High German zwelif twelve, Old English twA two, -leofan (as in endleofan eleven) -- more at TWO, ELEVEN
Date: before 12th century

Blame the English apparently ;)

[Steve]

Ah, but that just tells the origin of the word, it doesn't tell us WHY we use them.

English isn't the only language, either. German has unique names for one through ten. Ten is "zehn". Three is "drei", four is "fier". So, thirteen and fourteen are "dreizehn" and "fierzehn", and so on, just like English.

Yet, in German, eleven and twelve have unique names: "elf" and "zwolf".

So, English and German share the characteristic of having unique names for the 11th and 12th numbers. I'd bet they're not the only languages to do so.

So the question remains: why have humans developed unique names for those two numbers?

[Violet1966]

From the definitions above that I posted, my take on what they mean would probably explain why they are unique. At one time, just as the earth was flat, the numbers probably didn't go any higher than ten. So someone wanted to add "one more"...and then "more". At that point they got tired and couldn't think of anymore original sounding names for 13 through 19, so they just got lazy and added a teen on it which is a derivitive of ten??? LOL

Sounds good though don't it? ;) LMFAO

[tke711]

Mmmm...that's a great question.

In French, they have unique names all the way to 16.

[Paladin]

We count in decimal because we have 10 fingers.

We have number names to 12 because the early English had 12 fingers and used a base 12 number system. (ref: the six-finger man that Inigo Montoya hunted for 20 years.)

The French, going to 16, were the first to use the hexa-decimal system used by computers.

[Coot]

Well, the french may have phuqued up in their numbering system, but the spanish got it right...once doce trese catorce....

Personally, I think we could with an overhaul of the whole thing. For example, I think we should change the name of the Dodecagon to Dozegon. :haha:

[Steve]

OK, Spanish is another good example. Instead of stopping at 12, though, there are unique names for numbers up to 15; then the standard "10 + whatever" naming scheme picks up:

"dies y seis" for 16; "dies y siete" for 17; "dies y ocho" for 18, and so on.....

English and German stop at 12; Spanish goes to 15, French to 16. But why????

[Coot]

Yes but Spanish actually uses a readily recognizable derivation of the base number to extend past ten...unlike eleven and twelve.

[Steve]

Good point, I overlooked that.

[IamZed]

i have seen African natives with a base twelve numbering system. They counted their ten fingers then taped each forearm to finish the set. Perhaps that is where it started.

[Stiofán]

You people are all wrong. Without these numbers how would we sing the Twelve Days of Christmas???

Really folks, I would have thought you'd all have figured it out yourselves....