[LMB] Re: Counts

[Peter H. Granzeau]

At 07:54 09/17/2003, CatMtn at aol.com wrote:

>But in Barrayar, the title "Count" didn't derive from "County."  Piotr tells
>Cordelia (on the way to the Emperor's Birthday Party, at which they paid 
>their
>taxes) in _Barrayar_ that the first Counts were tax collectors (and
>enforcers) for the Emperor, and the term was short for 
>"Accountant."  Unless that was
>apocryphal, the only subordinate title would be "Keep," short for 
>"Bookkeeper."
Macht nichts, anyway.  "Count" in its numerical sense and "count" as a 
title are an example of convergent etymology.

But my whole point was that there WERE no other titles than Count (and 
Emperor, of course), the feudal organization adopted by Barrayar didn't 
extend that far (unless you wish to consider all Vor as nobles, possibly 
hereditary knights or something of that type).


-- 
Regards, Pete
pgranzeau at cox.net