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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@DennisBrown360 nice.we signed up for Caring Cards Volunteers through United Way Of Volusia/ Flagler Counties
MagicalNdeavors (Magical Endeavors) Fri, 01 Jan 2010 16:08:12 -0000
@DennisBrown360 nice.we signed up for Caring Cards Volunteers through United Way Of Volusia/ Flagler Counties
Full Time and Part Time Nannies... - Hillsborough & Pinellas counties, FL (http://tinyurl.com/yaxawod) Get Christian Jobs #Christian #jobs
GetChristiaJobs (Get Christian Jobs) Fri, 01 Jan 2010 16:06:00 -0000
Full Time and Part Time Nannies... - Hillsborough & Pinellas counties, FL (http://tinyurl.com/yaxawod) Get Christian Jobs #Christian #jobs
BOX continues Gale Warning valid at Jan 02, 1:00 PM EST for 13 counties/zones in [AN] till Jan 04, 1:00 AM EST http://bit.ly/5hpShr
MassWeatherNet (Mass Weather Net) Fri, 01 Jan 2010 16:06:00 -0000
BOX continues Gale Warning valid at Jan 02, 1:00 PM EST for 13 counties/zones in [AN] till Jan 04, 1:00 AM EST http://bit.ly/5hpShr
77 dogs to be placed in Oklahoma's 77 counties. Each agency must use the canine 10% of the time in our schools Please help us with our cause
DDDSI (DDDS Inc) Fri, 01 Jan 2010 15:59:24 -0000
77 dogs to be placed in Oklahoma's 77 counties. Each agency must use the canine 10% of the time in our schools Please help us with our cause
Fact: I am a God in Zac's eyes. Additional Fact: Ionia Walmart has the only PS3 in 2 Counties
kevenkrieger (Keven Krieger) Fri, 01 Jan 2010 15:50:35 -0000
Fact: I am a God in Zac's eyes. Additional Fact: Ionia Walmart has the only PS3 in 2 Counties
Winds 330 degrees so snow bands cut into Kzoo/St. Joe counties. Shift to 350 degrees later, bands move west. Blog http://tinyurl.com/yzr8pnk
WWMTWeather (WWMT Weather) Fri, 01 Jan 2010 15:41:00 -0000
Winds 330 degrees so snow bands cut into Kzoo/St. Joe counties. Shift to 350 degrees later, bands move west. Blog http://tinyurl.com/yzr8pnk

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