EnglandThe word derives from 'scir' in Germanic languages meaning giving power to an official. In England from 900AD areas of the kingdom formed separate 'shires', which are now known as 'counties'....
According to the prologue of The Lord of the Rings:
"Their earliest tales seem to glimpse a time when they dwelt in the upper vales of Anduin, between the eaves of Greenwood the Great and the Misty...