History of the use of "none" for countable nouns

The concept of countable nouns seems to be rapidly disappearing from modern English (e.g. I’m seeing "the amount of people" with increasing frequency, even in reputable publications, which makes me think of their combined weight).

But before that transformation is complete, I’d like to know about "none".

I tend to use "none" for substances, and "not one" for countable objects.
It’s a simple and obvious rule, with no ambiguity or confusion.

My conjecture is that this was the original correct usage, but that over time "not one" eventually became shortened to "none", and people started using "none" for countable nouns,
leading to the frequent question about whether "none" is singular or plural.

Is my conjecture correct, or was "none" always acceptable for countable nouns?