Județ
A județ (, plural ) is an administrative division in Romania, and was also used from 1940 to 1947 in the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic and from 1998 to 2003 in Moldova. "Județ" translates into English as "jurisdiction", but is commonly rendered as county (the preferred term for that being "comitat" in Romanian). There are 41 "județe" in Romania, divided into municipii (municipalities), "orașe" (cities) and "comune" (communes). Each "județ" has a county seat ("reședință de județ") which serves as its administrative capital; this designation usually belongs to the largest and most developed city in the respective county. The central government  is represented by one prefect in every "județ". Bucharest, the capital, is its own "județ". It also acts as the county seat of Ilfov. Etymology. In the Romanian Principalities, the "județ" was an office with administrative and judicial functions, corresponding to both judge and mayor. The word is etymologically rooted in the Latin "judicium", and is therefore cognate to other administrative institutions like the Sardinian "giudicati", or terms like "jurisdiction" and "judge". In Romanian, the term "județ" does not take an initial capital unless it is the first word of a sentence.