Count

Count

Count (male) or Countess (female) is a title in European countries for a noble of varying status, but historically deemed to convey an approximate rank intermediate between the highest and lowest titles of nobility. The word count came into English from the French comte, itself from Latin comes—in its accusative comitem—meaning "companion", and later "companion of the emperor, delegate of the emperor". The adjective form of the word is "comital". The British and Irish equivalent is an earl (whose wife is a "countess", for lack of an English term). Alternative names for the "Count" rank in the nobility structure are used in other countries, such as Graf in Germany and Hakushaku during the Japanese Imperial era.

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Famous quotes containing the word count:

    “Each say following another, either hastening or putting off our death—what pleasure does it bring? I count that man worthless who is cheered by empty hopes. No, a noble man must either live or die well.”
    —Sophocles (497–406/5 B.C.)

    “The city of Washington is in some respects self-contained, and it is easy there to forget what the rest of the United States is thinking about. I count it a fortunate circumstance that almost all the windows of the White House and its offices open upon unoccupied spaces that stretch to the banks of the Potomac ... and that as I sit there I can constantly forget Washington and remember the United States.”
    —Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)

    ““The days have outnumbered
    my fingers and toes.
    What can I count with now?”
    Saying this,
    the naive girl cries.”
    —Hla Stavhana (c. 50 A.D.)