comes

Comes in Latin meant a companion, from com- (with) and ire (to go). A comes was someone who went with you — a traveling companion, a member of an entourage. In the late Roman Empire, the title comes attached to high-ranking military and administrative officials who served in the emperor's court. The comes sacrarum largitionum managed the treasury. The comes rei militaris commanded military forces. The word companion had become a title of power.

The Frankish kingdoms inherited the Roman administrative structure and its titles. A comes governed a county (comitatus) — a district of land — on behalf of the king. The word traveled through Old French as conte and into English as 'count.' But English already had an equivalent native title — earl, from Old English eorl (nobleman, warrior). England kept 'earl' for the person and adopted 'county' for the territory. A count rules a county, but in England, an earl rules a county. The word split between the title and the territory.

The feminine form, countess (from Old French contesse), is used in England for the wife of an earl. This creates a peculiarity: an English earl's wife is a countess, not an earless. The French title was applied to the wife of the English equivalent. The word count penetrated English aristocratic vocabulary through the feminine and the territorial while being excluded from the masculine title itself.

On the Continent, count (French comte, German Graf, Italian conte, Spanish conde) remained the standard title for the ruler of a county-sized territory. The word travels from Latin companion to medieval governor to modern aristocratic rank. The companion who walked beside the emperor became the lord who ruled a province. The going-with became the governing.