count

count · verb, noun, adjective¹

1. Proto-Indo-European*ḱe?
2. Proto-Indo-European*ḱóm
3. Proto-Italic*kom
4. Proto-Italic*kom-
5. Latincon-
6. Latinputus
7. Latinputō
8. Latincomputō
9. Anglo-Normancounter
10. Middle Englishcounten
11. English todaycount

From Middle English counten, borrowed from Anglo-Norman conter, from Old French conter (“add up; tell a story”), from Latin computō (“to compute”). In this sense, displaced native Old English tellan, whence Modern English tell. Doublet of compute. Compare typologically reckon, Russian счита́ть (sčitátʹ), счита́ться (sčitátʹsja); the semantic evolution to Mongolian санах (sanax).

count · noun²

1. Latin · derived fromcomes“companion”
2. Old French · derived fromcomte“count”
3. Anglo-Norman · derived fromconte
4. Middle English · inherited fromcounte
5. English todaycount

From Middle English counte, from Anglo-Norman conte and Old French comte (“count”), from Latin comes (“companion”) (more specifically derived from its accusative form comitem) in the sense of "noble fighting alongside the king". Doublet of comes, comte, and conte.

Words from the same roots