Etymologically
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county

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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
  • 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)