Count (male) or Countess (female) is a title in European countries for a noble of varying status, but historically deemed to convey an approximate rank intermediate between the highest and lowest titles of nobility. The word count came into English from the French comte, itself from Latin comes—in its accusative comitem—meaning "companion", and later "companion of the emperor, delegate of the emperor". The adjective form of the word is "comital". The British and Irish equivalent is an earl (whose wife is a "countess", for lack of an English term). Alternative names for the "Count" rank in the nobility structure are used in other countries, such as Graf in Germany and Hakushaku during the Japanese Imperial era.
Read more about Count: Definition, Comital Titles in Different European Languages, Equivalents
Famous quotes containing the word count:
“The only way to avoid being unhappy is to close yourself up in Art and to count for nothing all the rest.”
—Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880)
“I count myself in nothing else so happy
As in a soul remembering my good friends.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“For I could not read or speak and on the long nights I could not turn the moon off or count the lights of cars across the ceiling.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)