I'm trying to find out exactly where the word county origanates from. Could someone please help me
thanks
sorcha

Well I know that the english word comes from the french word(which escapes me at the moment), the irish word 'contae' also comes from the french word, from the influence of the normans in Ireland.
You'd think the irish word came from english, but there are quite a few irish and english words that are similar because they both originate in french(because of the norman influence again).

County was originally (in France) the area a count was responsible to the monarch for, and came to mean an administrative area under the english crown.

PS: It is not a Gaelic concept! The country was differently organized in Gaelic times (up to the Tudors for most of Ireland), counties were introduced by the normans/english.