Ye shall compass the city--and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times. Josh. 6. For ye compass sea and land. Math. 23. 4. To besiege; to beleaguer; to block up. This is not a different sense, but a particular application. Thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side. Luke 19. 5.
The people so classified also were categorized collectively as gente de razn, a term that literally means people of reason, but was originally used to designate non-Spaniards and especially people of mixed genetic heritage who were able to speak the Spanish language.
The story of raconteur is a tale of telling and counting. English speakers borrowed the word from French, where it traces back to the Old French verb raconter, meaning to tell. Raconter in turn was formed from another Old French verb, aconter or acompter, meaning to tell or to count, which is ultimately from Latin computare, meaning to count.