dozendozen

Dozen comes from Middle English dozen, from Old French dozaine ‘a group of twelve’, from doze ‘twelve’, from Latin duodecim ‘twelve’.

1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEduodecim¹‘twelve’
2. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*dōdeci²reconstructed
3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400doze¹‘twelve’
4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400dozaine¹‘a group of twelve’
5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500dozen¹
6. Englishearliest quotation 1957dozen¹

1. ¹ Wiktionary, English dozen
2. ² Wiktionary, Old French doze
3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1957, H.R. Schubert, History of the British Iron and Steel Industry: “The dozen as a measure for iron ore remained…”.