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:

    And do you count for nothing God who fights for us?
    Jean Racine (1639–1699)

    “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.)

    Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb-nail.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)