diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index fae6ecc..4662919 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -7,10 +7,8 @@ GNU coreutils NEWS                                    -*- outline -*-
   dd now accepts the count_bytes, skip_bytes iflags and the count_bytes
   oflag, to more easily allow processing portions of a file.
 
-  split now accept an optional "from" value for the
-  --numeric-suffixes option. If this argument is specified, the
-  numeric suffix counts from this value, otherwise, like before, it
-  counts from 0.
+  split now accepts an optional "from" argument to --numeric-suffixes,
+  which changes the start number from the default of 0.
 
 ** Bug fixes
 
diff --git a/doc/coreutils.texi b/doc/coreutils.texi
index f5616d8..d7a43d6 100644
--- a/doc/coreutils.texi
+++ b/doc/coreutils.texi
@@ -3087,7 +3087,7 @@ Use suffixes of length @var{length}.  The default @var{length} is 2.
 @itemx address@hidden
 @opindex -d
 @opindex --numeric-suffixes
-Use digits in suffixes rather than lower-case letters. The numerical
+Use digits in suffixes rather than lower-case letters.  The numerical
 suffix counts from @var{from} if specified, 0 otherwise.
 
 @item -e
diff --git a/src/split.c b/src/split.c
index 03feb9f..e7c61bb 100644
--- a/src/split.c
+++ b/src/split.c
@@ -249,8 +249,7 @@ next_file_name (void)
       outfile_mid = outfile + outbase_length;
       memcpy (outfile, outbase, outbase_length);
       sufindex = xcalloc (suffix_length, sizeof *sufindex);
-      /* Initialize the suffix index accordingly to the count from
-         value.  */
+      /* Initialize the suffix index according to start value.  */
       {
         unsigned long left = suffix_count_from;
         while (i-- != 0)
@@ -1166,7 +1165,7 @@ main (int argc, char **argv)
               if (xstrtoul (optarg, NULL, 10, &tmp, "") != LONGINT_OK)
                 {
                   error (0, 0,
-                         _("%s: invalid count from numerical suffix number"),
+                         _("%s: invalid start value for numerical suffix"),
                          optarg);
                   usage (EXIT_FAILURE);
                 }
@@ -1243,7 +1242,7 @@ main (int argc, char **argv)
       usage (EXIT_FAILURE);
     }
 
-  /* Check that the suffix length is greater enough for the numerical
+  /* Check that the suffix length is large enough for the numerical
      suffix count from value.  */
   if (suffix_count_from)
     {
@@ -1254,8 +1253,8 @@ main (int argc, char **argv)
         {
           if (length == 0)
             {
-              error (0, 0, _("numerical suffix FROM number too hight\
- for the suffix length"));
+              error (0, 0, _("numerical suffix start value is too large "
+                             "for the suffix length"));
               usage (EXIT_FAILURE);
             }
           start /= 10;
diff --git a/tests/split/numeric b/tests/split/numeric
index 5550d6f..ad22df6 100755
--- a/tests/split/numeric
+++ b/tests/split/numeric
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ print_ver_ split
 
 # Check default start from 0
 printf '1\n2\n3\n4\n5\n' > in || framework_failure_
-split --numeric-suffixes --lines=2 in > out || fail=1
+split --numeric-suffixes --lines=2 in || fail=1
 cat <<\EOF > exp-1
 1
 2
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ compare exp-2 x01 || fail=1
 compare exp-3 x02 || fail=1
 
 # Check --numeric-suffixes=X
-split --numeric-suffixes=1 --lines=2 in > out || fail=1
+split --numeric-suffixes=1 --lines=2 in || fail=1
 cat <<\EOF > exp-1
 1
 2
@@ -54,8 +54,12 @@ compare exp-1 x01 || fail=1
 compare exp-2 x02 || fail=1
 compare exp-3 x03 || fail=1
 
-# Check that split failed when suffix length is not greater enough for
-# the numerical suffix count from value
-fail=1 && split -a 3 --numeric-suffixes=1000 in > out 2> /dev/null || fail=0
+# Check that split failed when suffix length is not large enough for
+# the numerical suffix start value
+split -a 3 --numeric-suffixes=1000 in 2> /dev/null && fail=1
+
+# check invalid --numeric-suffixes start values are flagged
+split --numeric-suffixes=-1 in 2> /dev/null && fail=1
+split --numeric-suffixes=one in 2> /dev/null && fail=1
 
 Exit $fail