county

From Middle English countee, counte, conte, borrowed from Anglo-Norman counté and Old French conté, which trace back to Latin comitātus, meaning 'jurisdiction of a count,' itself from comes, 'count, earl.'

The word entered English through French to describe territory under a count's authority, and it gradually displaced the native Old English word sċīr, which survives today as 'shire.'

It's a doublet of comitatus, which English also borrowed directly from Latin without passing through French. It's also cognate with Spanish condado and Italian contea, both meaning the same thing.