From Old Englishhundtwelftig. Compare hundseofontig, hundeahtatig, hundnigontig and hundtēontig for modern seventy, eighty, ninety and hundred, reflecting the old Germanic hybrid base-ten and base-twelve numbering system. This hund was used for counting higher decades, and eventually became the root of hundred. Hund originally meant 120 (now called a long hundred or great hundred, and preserved in the term hundredweight), but was used to translate multiples of Latin centum ("100"), and eventually picked up that value when used in isolation as well.
1854, Thomas H. Palmer, Arithmetic, Oral and Written, Thirty-six from a hundred and twenty-nine? twelvety-nine.
1922, International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, Report and Proceedings of the Convention, The twelfty-six126 weeks' strike taught us the value of being organized
unknown dateBase 120 is the largest of the historically attested bases ... There are references to a long or twelftywise count vs a short or teenty-wise count in all of the early Germanic writings.
