count [ME] The verb to count is from Latin computare ‘to calculate’, the root also of *computer, account [ME], and recount [LME] ‘tell’ (tell too can also be used for both ‘narrate’ and ‘count’). Counters [ME] were originally used to help in counting; in the late 17th century the word came to be used for a surface across which goods were exchanged for money. The title of the count or foreign nobleman, corresponding to the English *earl, is a completely different word, which was introduced by the Normans and comes from Latin comes ‘companion, overseer, attendant’. County [ME] is from the same root, and seems originally to have referred to the lands or territory of a count, or to a meeting held to discuss the business of the county. See also chicken, duke.