Where does “county” come from?
County comes from Middle English countee, from Anglo-Norman conte, from Latin comitatus, meaning the office or territory of a comes, or companion and official of the Roman state.
county (English): The land ruled by a count or a countess; An...
Definitions
- The land ruled by a count or a countess; An...
Ancestry of “county”, step by step
county traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Middle English countee
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | countee | — |
| 2 | Anglo-Norman French | counté | — |
| 3 | Latin | comitātus | having accompanied, guarded, served, attended |
| 4 | Latin | comitor | I join someone as an attendant; accompany,... |
| 5 | Latin | comes | a companion, comrade, partner; an attendant, a... |
| 6 | Latin | com- | allomorph of con- |
| 7 | Latin | con- | Used in compounds to indicate a being or bringing... |
| 8 | Latin | cum | with, along with; at; -fold |
| 9 | Old Latin | com | Alternative form of cum |
| 10 | Proto-Italic | kom | with, along, at |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱóm | beside, near, by, with |
| 12 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱe | Deictic particle, here; Post-positional... |
| 13 | Middle English | kyt | — |
| 14 | German | kitt | putty certain kinds of cement used for fixing e.g. window panes |
| 15 | Old High German | kuti | — |
| 16 | Proto-West Germanic | kwidu | gum, resin |
| 17 | Proto-Germanic | kweduz | resin |
| 18 | Proto-Indo-European | gʷet- | resin, gum; to say, speak |
| 19 | Proto-Indo-European | gū- | to bend; curve; arch; vault; to bow, bend, arch,... |
via Old French conté
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Old French | conté | county |
| 2 | Latin | computus | computation, calculation; bank account |
| 3 | Latin | computō | to calculate, compute, reckon together |
| 4 | Latin | cōn- | Used in compounds to indicate a being or bringing together of several objects |
| 5 | Latin | -dō | to put |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | -dô | — |
| 7 | Sicilian | di | Used to indicate possession, after the thing owned and before the owner; of; ’s |
| 8 | Latin | dē | of; concerning; about |
| 9 | Latin | post | behind; after, since, besides, except; behind,... |
| 10 | Latin | poste | ablative singular of postis |
| 11 | Proto-Italic | posti | behind, after |
| 12 | Proto-Indo-European | pósti | after |
| 13 | Proto-Indo-European | pós | afterwards, post; by, at |