English number words are pretty logical after a point. From twenty-one to ninety-nine, the same principle applies: the tens place followed by the units place. But the teens are different.

英文數字從某個數開始就相當符合邏輯。從21到29,運用的都是相同的理論:幾十在前,后面跟著個位數字。但十幾卻并非如此。

Eleven and twelve come from the Old English words endleofan and twelf, which can be traced back further to a time when they were ain+lif and twa+lif.

11和12來自古英語endleofan和twelf,可以追溯到倆數字還寫作ain+lif和 twa+lif的時候。

So then the question is, why don't we have threelif, fourlif, fiflif, sixlif and so on? The answer has to do with the development of number systems over history.

于是,問題來了,我們?yōu)楹螞]沒有threelif, fourlif, fiflif和sixlif 呢?答案和歷史上數字體系的發(fā)展有關。

A long, long time ago, when the number words were first being formed, most people didn't have much reason to;distinguishnumbers above ten. In fact, some languages of;primitive cultures only have number words for one, two, and many. So the basic number words up to ten formed first, then they were extended a bit with the –lif ending.

很久很久以前數字剛剛形成的時候,多數人并沒有太多能耐去辨識十以上的數字。事實上,有些原始文化的語言里表示數字的詞只有一、二和許多。于是乎,先有了到十的基本數字,然后稍稍拓展,以–lif 結尾。 

Many number systems are based on 12 because it's divisible by the most numbers, and because you can count to 12 on one hand by using your thumb to count three knuckles on each of the other fingers. If 11 and 12 are being used more frequently, the forms for them will stick, even when another system starts to develop.

許多數字體系都是基于12的,因為12可以被多數數字約分,還因為你可以一只手僅靠大拇指,數每個指頭的指節(jié),就能數到12。要是11和12如今運用更廣泛的話,其形式便會固定下來,即便有其它體系慢慢發(fā)展起來。 

You can extend that idea to other number words. We have more irregularities of pronunciation in the tens (twenty, thirty, fifty instead of twoty, threety, fivety) because we've been making everyday use of those numbers for longer than we have for two hundred, three hundred, and five hundred). 。Thousand is an old word, but its original sense was "a great multitude," a non-numerically-specific, but very useful idea. The words we needed earliest, and used the most frequently are usually the most irregular.

這樣思想可以類推到其它數字。幾十的數字發(fā)音不規(guī)律(twenty, thirty, fifty 而不是twoty, threety, fivety)。一千是個古老的詞,最初的意思是“量很大”,具體數值不詳,但這一概念很有用。有些詞匯我們很早就有需要、 使用頻率最高,也恰是最不規(guī)則的。 

So the short answer is, we created words for 11 and 12 a long time ago by calling them "one left after ten" and "two left after ten." They were more useful to us than the higher numbers, so we said them more and they became a habit that we couldn't shake.

所以,簡單說來,人們很久以前創(chuàng)造出“十余一”和“十余二”這樣的用語來表示11和12。比起更大的數字,11和12更為有用,所以我們說的也多,因為這已成為習慣難以改變。