count

English has two words spelled count: “to reckon numbers”, from Latin computāre, and the title of nobility, from Latin comes “companion”.^[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kaʊnt/^[4]

count¹ reckon

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Middle English counten,^[2] borrowed from Old French conter (“to count, add up; to tell a story”), also cunter,^[5][1] from Latin computāre (“to count, sum up, reckon together”),^[5][1] from com- (“together”) and putāre (“to reckon”), originally “to prune”,^[5][1] from Proto-Indo-European *pau- (“to cut, strike, stamp”).^[5] It is a doublet of compute.^[1] The noun is inherited from Middle English counte, borrowed from Old French conte (“a reckoning”),^[5][1] from Late Latin computus (“calculation”).^[3][2] Modern French separates compter “to count” and conter “to tell”, but they are the same word.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb: “to value”, 1369, in Chaucer's Book of the Duchess, with counting “reckoning” from 1341.^[1] “To enumerate” is from about 1380 in Barnhart^[1] and about 1325 in the OED.^[6] The noun, a reckoning or account, is from before 1325.^[1][6]

Semantic evolution

“To reckon among, include” is from the late 14th century,^[5] and “to esteem, consider” from about 1325.^[6] To count on, “to rely on”, is from the 1640s,^[5] count out, “to leave out of consideration”, from 1854, and count in from 1857.^[5] The intransitive sense “to be of value, matter” is from 1857.^[5] The noun meant the total counted from the late 15th century,^[5] and “consideration, esteem” in the same period.^[5][3] In law a count is each charge in an indictment, from the 1580s.^[5] In boxing the referee's counting of ten seconds is by 1902,^[5][6] and in baseball the number of balls and strikes by 1909.^[5] The counter over which goods are sold, originally a table for counting, is from the late 17th century.^[7]

Timeline

• before 1325 – noun, a reckoning.^[1][6]
• c. 1325 – verb, to enumerate.^[6]
• 1369 – verb, to value.^[1]
• late 15th century – the total counted.^[5]
• 1580s – a charge in an indictment.^[5]
• 1640s – count on.^[5]
• 1857 – to matter.^[5]
• 1902 – the count in boxing.^[5][6]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To name or list items one by one to find the total.
2. To say numbers in order: count to ten.
3. To include in a reckoning, or to consider: count yourself lucky.
4. To be important; to matter.
5. To rely on: you can count on me.

Noun

1. The act of counting, or the number reached.
2. (law) Each separate charge in an indictment.
3. (boxing) The referee's counting of seconds over a fallen boxer.

Word family

• counter
• countless
• countdown
• recount
• account
• discount

count² nobleman

Etymology

It is borrowed from Anglo-Norman counte (“count, earl”), Old French conte,^[5][1] from Latin comes (“companion, attendant”), accusative comitem,^[5][1] from com- (“with”) and the stem of īre (“to go”),^[5][1] from Proto-Indo-European *ei- (“to go”);^[5] it is literally “one who goes with another”.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A title of nobility in European countries: 1258 in the OED.^[6] Barnhart dates the title to about 1425, and earlier counte “a shire” to about 1303.^[1] Etymonline gives about 1300.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In Rome a comes was a companion of a great person, then an adviser of the emperor, and finally a high officer; these officers were the models of the medieval counts.^[5] Anglo-French used the word to render Old English eorl, but it never became naturalized in English and was used mainly of foreign titles,^[5] corresponding to the English earl.^[7][6] Count palatine is from 1596.^[6] The territory ruled by a count gave county.^[1]

Timeline

• 1258 – a continental title of nobility.^[6]
• c. 1303 – counte, a shire.^[1]
• 1596 – count palatine.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A nobleman in some European countries, equal in rank to an English earl.

Word family

• countess
• county
• viscount

Related words

• compute
• contessa
• computer
• putative
• amputate
• concomitant
• constable

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
2. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press