grafn.
/ɡrɑːf/, /ɡraf/, U.S. /ɡrɑf/, /ɡræf/ In German-speaking contexts: = count n.2 1, earl n. 3d.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social class > nobility > rank > earl, count, or countess > [noun] > earl or count > foreign earl or count
count?c1425
comte1611
graf1630
conde1633
1630 J. Taylor Wks. iii. 86 This towne..is wholely and solely belonging to the Graff or Graue of Shomburgh.
a1849 J. C. Mangan Poems (1859) 113 The Graf came never—the Graf was dead.
1852 J. Stephen Lect. Hist. France (ed. 2) I. 63 Each Herizog and Graf was regarded as supreme.
1888 Let. to Earl of Middleton in G. Etherege Wks. (new ed.) 378 These form'd the jewel erst did grace The cap of the first Graf o' th' race.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1900; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1630