this post was submitted on 13 May 2025
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It's a hangover from earlier base 12 counting systems in which things like eggs would be counted in dozens.
You need 12 unique symbols in a base 12 system.
Thirteen through nineteen come from a different language source than eleven and twelve.
That makes enough sense.
Now to figure out why my language (Portuguese) has unique names going up to 15 instead of 10 or 12.
Couldn't find anything except that Spanish might be similar.