Editing Count (section)

==Origin of the term==
{{Main|Comes}}
The word ''count'' came into English from the [[French language|French]] ''{{lang|fr|comte}}'', itself from [[Latin]] ''{{lang|la|[[comes]]}}''—in its [[Accusative case|accusative]] form ''comitem''. It meant "companion" or "attendant", and as a title it indicated that someone was delegated to represent the ruler. 

In the late [[Roman Empire]], the Latin title ''comes'' denoted the high rank of various courtiers and provincial officials, either military or administrative. Before [[Anthemius]] became emperor in the West in 467, he was a military ''comes'' charged with strengthening defenses on the [[Danube]] frontier.<ref>{{cite web |title=An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors |publisher=University of South Carolina |url=http://www.roman-emperors.org/anthemiu.htm |access-date=2008-04-10}}</ref>

In the [[Western Roman Empire]], "count" came to indicate generically a military commander{{cn|date=January 2023}} but was not a specific rank. In the [[Eastern Roman Empire]], from about the seventh century, "count" was a specific rank indicating the commander of two ''[[centuria]]e'' (i.e., 200 men).

The medieval title of ''comes'' was originally not hereditary.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Institut für Wissenschaftliche Zusammenarbeit mit Hochschulen der Entwicklungsländer (Tübingen, Germany) |title=Philosophy and History |date=1976 |publisher=Philosophy and History |page=105}}</ref> It was regarded as an administrative official dependent on the king, until the process of [[allodial]]isation during the 9th century in which such titles came to be private possessions of noble families.<ref>{{cite book |first=John M.|last=Jeep |title=Medieval Germany: An Encyclopedia |date=2001 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=0824076443 |page=140}}</ref> By virtue of their large estates, many counts could pass the title to their heirs—but not always. For instance, in [[Piast Poland#the Early Kingdom of Poland, (1025–1146)|Piast Poland]], the position of ''komes'' was not hereditary, resembling the early [[Merovingian]] institution. The title had disappeared by the era of the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]], and the office had been replaced by others. Only after the [[Partitions of Poland]] did the title of "count" resurface in the title ''hrabia'', derived from the German ''Graf''.

In the [[Franks|Frankish]] kingdoms in the early [[Middle Ages]], a count might also be a [[count palatine]], whose authority derived directly over a royal household, a [[palace]] in its original sense of the seat of power and administration. This other kind of count had vague antecedents in [[Late antiquity|Late Antiquity]] too: the father of [[Cassiodorus]] held positions of trust with Theodoric, as ''comes rerum privatarum'', in charge of the imperial lands, then as ''comes sacrarum largitionum'' ("count of the sacred doles"), concerned with the finances of the realm.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/jod/texts/cassbook/chap1.html |title=Archived copy |access-date=2005-06-21 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050510135935/http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/jod/texts/cassbook/chap1.html |archive-date=2005-05-10 }}</ref>

In the United Kingdom, the title of ''earl'' is used instead of ''count''. Although the exact reason is debated by historians and linguists, one of the more popular theories proposes that ''count'' fell into disuse because of its phonetic similarity to the vulgar slang word ''[[cunt]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Why England has 200 countesses – and zero counts - CSMonitor.com |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/In-a-Word/2023/0522/Why-England-has-200-countesses-and-zero-counts |access-date=2024-09-15 |website=www.csmonitor.com}}</ref>

===Land attached to title===
{{Main|County}}
It is only after some time that the continental medieval title came to be strongly associated with the ownership of and jurisdiction over specific lands, which led to evolution of the term ''county'' to refer to specific regions. The English term county, used as an equivalent to the English term [[shire]], is derived from the [[Old French]] ''conté'' or ''cunté'' which denoted the [[jurisdiction (area)|jurisdiction]] of a French count or [[viscount]].<ref name=etymology>The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, C. W. Onions (Ed.), 1966, [[Oxford University Press]]</ref> The modern French is ''comté'', and its equivalents in other languages are ''contea'', ''contado'', ''comtat'', ''condado'', ''Grafschaft'', ''graafschap'', etc. (cf. ''[[Nobility of Italy|conte]]'', ''comte'', ''conde'', ''[[Graf]]''). The title of Count also continued to exist in cases which are not connected to any specific to a geographical "county". 

In the [[United Kingdom]], the equivalent "Earl" can also be used as a [[courtesy title]] for the eldest son of a duke or marquess. In the [[Italy|Italian states]], by contrast, all the sons of certain counts were little counts (''contini''). In [[Sweden]] there is a distinction between counts (Swedish: ''greve'') created before and after 1809. All children in comital families elevated before 1809 were called count/countess. In families elevated after 1809, only the head of the family was called count, the rest have a status similar to barons and were called by the equivalent of "Mr/Ms/Mrs", before the recognition of titles of nobility was abolished.