The same may be said of the French _onze_, _douze_,
_treize_, _quatorze_, _quinze_, and _seize_, which are obvious compounds,
but not formed in the same manner as the numerals above that point. Almost
all civilized languages, however, except the Teutonic, and practically all
uncivilized languages, begin their direct numeral combinations as soon as
they have passed their number base, whatever that may be. To give an
illustration, selected quite at random from among the barbarous tribes of
Africa, the Ki-Swahili numeral scale runs as follows:[53]
1. moyyi,
2. mbiri,
3. tato,
4. ena,
5. tano,
6. seta,
7. saba,
8. nani,
9. kenda,
10. kumi,
11. kumi na moyyi,
12. kumi na mbiri,
13. kumi na tato,
etc.
The words for 11, 12, and 13, are seen at a glance to signify ten-and-one,
ten-and-two, ten-and-three, and the count proceeds, as might be inferred,
in a similar manner as far as the number system extends. Our English
combinations are a little closer than these, and the combinations found in
certain other languages are, in turn, closer than those of the English; as
witness the _once_, 11, _doce_, 12, _trece_, 13, etc., of Spanish. But the
process is essentially the same, and the law may be accepted as practically
invariable, that all numerals greater than the base of a system are
expressed by compound words, except such as are necessary to establish some
new order of unit, as hundred or thousand.
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