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:
“You count your lover fair,
your bride or your bride-groom,
yet you would shun the room
where their enchantments are.”
—Hilda Doolittle (18861961)
“If he does really think that there is no distinction between virtue and vice, why, Sir, when he leaves our houses let us count our spoons.”
—Samuel Johnson (17091784)
“I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of
infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams.”
—William Shakespeare (15641616)