county

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈkaʊn.ti/, US /ˈkaʊn.t̬i/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English counte, borrowed from Anglo-Norman counté (Old French conté, modern comté),^[2][3][4] from Medieval Latin comitātus (“domain of a count”),^[5][6] from Late Latin comitātus (“office of a count”),^[5][6][3] from Latin comitātus (“retinue, escort”),^[5][7] from comes (“companion”), the source of count, “nobleman”.^[3][8][7] It replaced Old English scīr, shire.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A shire court, the periodical meeting under the sheriff: about 1303, in Mannyng's Handlyng Synne,^[2] or 1217 in the OED's record.^[9] A shire is recorded before 1338, in Mannyng's Chronicle.^[2]

Semantic evolution

A definite division of a country for administrative purposes is from the mid-14th century,^[3] and the domain of a count or earl from about 1377,^[9][2] a sense the OED notes was common in Anglo-French but rare in English.^[9] A county palatine, with special privileges, such as Lancaster, Chester and Durham, is from the mid-15th century^[3] or 1491.^[9] The county gentry are the county from 1647.^[9] The word was introduced into most British colonies as the name of an administrative division, from 1683,^[9] and county seat is American English by 1848.^[3]

Timeline

• 1217 – a shire court.^[9]
• before 1338 – a shire.^[2]
• mid-14th century – an administrative division.^[3]
• c. 1377 – the domain of a count.^[9][2]
• 1491 – county palatine.^[9]
• 1647 – the county gentry.^[9]
• 1683 – a colonial division.^[9]
• 1848 – county seat.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. An administrative subdivision of a US state.
2. A territorial division with administrative and judicial functions in Britain and Ireland; a shire.
3. (historical) The territory of a count or earl.
4. The people of a county.

Word family

• subcounty
• countywide
• county court
• county fair
• county palatine

Related words

• count
• viscount
• shire
• concomitant
• constable

Usage notes

A separate, obsolete county meant a count, a nobleman, from Middle French comte, recorded from 1550.^[9][10][4] In Irish and northern dialect, a “county crop” was hair cut very short, as in the county prison.^[11]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
6. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ 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
10. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)