I have often wondered if English, and indeed my native tongue Danish, originally had base 12 counting systems. We have unique words from 1 to 12, but at exactly 13 we switch away from that and start putting multiple words together to say the numbers.<br><br>Could anyone be so kind as to illuminate this for me? :p,(reply>), @IshayuG No problem... I’m pretty much an obsessive Indo-European otaku as is, so I’m glad to help.,(reply>), @Fernando Lamadrid Thank you! That was something I did not know. :),(reply>), The Germanic words for eleven and twelve are actually derived from phrases meaning "one left" (ainlif &gt; Eng. eleven, Germ. elf, Dan. elleve) and "two left" (twalif &gt; Eng. twelve, Germ. zwölf, Dan. tolv). Lithuanian still retains an older form of this "X left" form of naming numbers between 11 and 19: "vienuolika, dvylika, trylika, keturiolika, penkiolika, sheshiolika, septyniolika, ashtuoniolika, devyniolika". This -lve or -lika ending comes from an Indo-European root *leikw, meaning "to leave, to remain".