Old English:
* "Twenty" comes from the Old English word "twentig," which is a combination of:
* "twa" meaning "two"
* "-tig" a suffix indicating "ten"
Proto-Germanic:
* This combination can be traced back further to Proto-Germanic, the ancestor of English and other Germanic languages. In Proto-Germanic, it was "twai-tig" (again, "two" plus "ten").
Indo-European Roots:
* The Proto-Germanic word itself has roots in the even older Indo-European language family, from which many European and Asian languages descend.
Summary:
Essentially, "twenty" started as a way to express "two tens" and evolved over centuries through different languages.
It's worth noting that the "-tig" suffix is also found in other numbers like "thirty" ("three tens"), "forty" ("four tens"), and so on. This consistent pattern showcases the historical method of counting by tens.