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(Ed: for convenience of typing T and E are used here for ten and eleven)
I had never seen a *good* base 12 number system. Thus, I created this one (which hopefully is).
I have adopted a variant of the symbols for nine plus one and nine plus two as supported by the dozenal society of Great Britain.
Where I have deviated from normal numbers where you might not expect me to (eg. Nine = "en") I have done so for practical reasons only.
I have tried to create reasonable and distinct
sounding names, that are easy to say.
The "teens" are accommodated by the suffix -twe, and
the dozens beyond that by the suffix -do.
Occasionally, you may note "blips" in the spelling
such as ad + twe = addwe. This is a simple matter of
assimilation, that which occurs so that adjoining
consonants move to the same point of articulation etc
(for ease of speech). Thus, sometimes "-do" becomes
-to.
Occasionally, some vowels may also be missed (eg. One
+ twe = ontwe). This, too, is for pronounciation and
language reasons. Sometimes, though, I have not done
this when by pattern I should have - this is so as to
indicate pronounciation.
| 1 | One | |
| 2 | Two | |
| 3 | Three | |
| 4 | Four | |
| 5 | Five | |
| 6 | Six | |
| 7 | Sept | (pronounced "set", like the French number for seven) |
| 8 | Ad | |
| 9 | En | |
| T | Dene | (pr. "deen" |
| E | Elf | (German for eleven) |
| 10 | Twelve | |
| 11 | Ontwe | |
| 12 | Tutwe | (pr. Tut-wee or too-tway) |
| 13 | Thretwe | (pr. Thret-wee, thret-way) |
| 14 | Fortwe | |
| 15 | Fiftwe | (sometimes I pronounce this "fye-wee") |
| 16 | Sixtwe | (I have come to pronounce this as "sight-wee") |
| 17 | Septwe | (set-wee, set-way) |
| 18 | Addwe | |
| 19 | Entwe | |
| 1T | Dentwe | (sometimes denetwe - "den-et-way") |
| 1E | Elftwe | (I usually do not pronounce the t here) |
| 20 | Tudo | (pr. "too-doh") |
| 21 | Tudo one | |
| 22 | Tudo two | |
| 23 | Tudo three | |
| 30 | Thredo | (I often pronounce this as "thray-doh") |
| 40 | Fordo | |
| 50 | Fifto | |
| 60 | Sixto | |
| 70 | Septto/Seddo | (Pr. "Sept-toh" or "set-toh" or "see-doh") |
| 80 | Addo | |
| 90 | Endo | |
| T0 | Denedo | |
| E0 | Elfto | |
| 100 | Gross | |
| 1000 | Grand | |
| 1,000,000 | Milliad | |
The present year, (2003ad) / 11TE ad = Ontwe Denedo elf (or) One grand, One gross and denedo-elf
As far as higher powers go, it depends really on whether you are using the one thousand million = 1 billion system, or the one million million = 1 billion system. I will not impose, but will say that the higher names are:
| 1 grand milliad (or) 1 milliad milliad = 1 billiad |
| 1 milliad milliad (or) 1 milliad milliad milliad = 1 trilliad |
| 1 grand^6 (or) 1 milliad^6 = 1 hexiad |
| 1 grand^*10 (or) 1 milliad^*10 = 1 uniad |
I hope you got that. I shall rephrase, in case you did not:
One dozenal "million" = 1 milliad
One dozenal "billion" = 1 billiad
One dozenal "trillion" = 1 trilliad
One trilliad times by one trilliad = 1 hexiad
One hexiad times one hexiad = 1 uniad.
The values are different, obviously, due to the two different number systems used worldwide.
Even higher numbers are formed in the usual way. That is, the numbers + iad (illion in decimal). So, Grossiad, for instance.
Afterwords/notes:
I reject the often-heard "-dek", amongst others, as I view them as aesthetically displeasing. If a number has to be changed, the goal is to make it easy to say, distinct, possibly vaguely English, and aesthetically pleasing (at least not distasteful).
The symbols I use for dene and elf are borrowed from Arabic, hence their strange style. These are as close as word can come to the *actual* dozenal symbols for these. Though, these symbols are almost exactly right, just move them up onto the line, and Romanise their curves. Dene is like a cursive t, and elf is a back-to-front *rounded* three.
I believe this to be a full and useful system of dozenal numeration. Obviously it is not "final", in as much as pronounciation changes, new ways are found to distinguish things, etc. (All comments welcome!).