A county is generally a sub-unit of regional self-government within a sovereign jurisdiction. Originally, in continental Europe, a county was the land under the jurisdiction of a count. Counts are called earls in post-Celtic Britain and Ireland—the term is from Old Norse jarl and was introduced by the Vikings—but there is no correlation between counties and earldoms. Rather, county, from French comté, was simply used by the Normans after 1066 to replace the native English term scir ()—Modern English shire. A shire was an administrative division of an Anglo-Saxon kingdom (Wessex, Mercia, East Anglia, etc.), usually named after its administrative centre: for example, Gloucestershire, in Gloucester; Worcestershire, in Worcester; etc.Etymology of the word county.

Thus, whereas the word comté denoted a sovereign jurisdiction in the original French, the English county denotes a subdivision of a sovereign jurisdiction.

Overview

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Country/Area	Language	Singular	Plural	Number	Notes
Counties of Canada	English and French
Counties of Croatia	Croatian	županija	županije	20
Counties of Denmark	Danish	amt	amter
Counties of Estonia	Estonian	maakond	maakonnad	15
Counties of Finland	Swedish and Finnish	län/läänit	län/läänit	6
Counties of Germany	German	Kreis	Kreise	323+116
Counties of Hungary	Hungarian	megye	megyék	19/22/1	for numbers: see main article
Counties of Ireland	Irish and English	contae	contaethe	32*
Counties of Japan	Japanese	gun
Counties of Latvia	Latvian	rajons	rajoni	26
Counties of Liberia	English language			15
Counties of Lithuania	Lithuanian	apskritis	apskritys	10
Counties of Moldova	Romanian language	judeţ	judeţe	9	disbanded in 2003
Counties of the Netherlands	Dutch language	graafschap	graafschappen		only historic
Counties of Norway	Norwegian language	fylke	fylker	19
Counties of Poland	Polish language	powiat	powiaty
Counties of Romania	Romanian language	judeţ	judeţe	41+1
Counties of Serbia and Montenegro	Serbian language	okrug	okruzi	29+1/21
Counties of Sweden	Swedish language	län	län
Counties of the United Kingdom	English language
Counties of the United States	English language			3141

* The 32 refers to the counties of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland combined. For more information, see the sections on Ireland and United Kingdom below.

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County gets $4.8 million to help autoworks transition to green jobs: Lorain County is among 44 Ohio counties that ... http://bit.ly/87EN4d
Marenda (Marenda Taylor) Thu, 07 Jan 2010 14:56:58 -0000
County gets $4.8 million to help autoworks transition to green jobs: Lorain County is among 44 Ohio counties that ... http://bit.ly/87EN4d
Lawmakers urge Hawaii counties to impose new sales taxes http://bit.ly/7EijiB
MDSArch (MDSArch) Thu, 07 Jan 2010 14:53:56 -0000
Lawmakers urge Hawaii counties to impose new sales taxes http://bit.ly/7EijiB
RT @BTYSTE: This years’ entries at a glance:1,588 projects entered & 329 schools throughout each of the 32 counties represented in the ...
bodonovan (Brian O'Donovan) Thu, 07 Jan 2010 14:53:05 -0000
RT @BTYSTE: This years’ entries at a glance:1,588 projects entered & 329 schools throughout each of the 32 counties represented in the ...
Caterers: Some couriers will deliver food for reasonable $. You can then get down in wider areas/counties #businesnerdtime (1/2)
boogieburger (Boogie Burger) Thu, 07 Jan 2010 14:52:32 -0000
Caterers: Some couriers will deliver food for reasonable $. You can then get down in wider areas/counties #businesnerdtime (1/2)
hmmm, counties just north and west of us are now under a winter storm warning.
IndyCacher (Rick Garrett) Thu, 07 Jan 2010 14:48:51 -0000
hmmm, counties just north and west of us are now under a winter storm warning.
I tried to tell her you have to do the dance WHERE YOU WANT THE SNOW... she works 2 counties over and to the south. No snow! HA
gwenid1701 (Wendy Aka Gwenid) Thu, 07 Jan 2010 14:39:44 -0000
I tried to tell her you have to do the dance WHERE YOU WANT THE SNOW... she works 2 counties over and to the south. No snow! HA

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