Editing Bern (section)

== Etymology ==
{{Hatnote|See also [[Names of European cities in different languages: B|Other names of Bern]]}}
The etymology of the name "Bern" is uncertain. According to the local legend, based on [[folk etymology]], [[Berthold V, Duke of Zähringen]], the founder of the city of Bern, vowed to name the city after the first animal he met on the hunt, and this turned out to be a bear. It has long been considered likely that the city was named after the Italian city of [[Verona]],{{Citation needed|date=April 2025|reason=None of the sources cited in this section mention any possible link to Verona. The entry from the Historical Dictionary of Switzerland, cited in the following sentence, only mentions Bern im Üechtland as an alternative name of the city. It doesn't say that it is because of any similarity to the name of the city of Verona.}} which at the time was known as ''Bern'' in [[Middle High German]]. The city was sometimes referred to as ''Bern im [[Üechtland]]'' to distinguish it from Verona.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://hls-dhs-dss.ch/de/articles/008562/2013-11-13/ |title=Üchtland |last1=Müller |first1=Wulf |last2=Tremp |first2=Ernst |date=13 November 2013 |website=[[Historical Dictionary of Switzerland]] |access-date=5 August 2020 |archive-date=11 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111083752/https://hls-dhs-dss.ch/de/articles/008562/2013-11-13/ |url-status=live }}</ref> As a result of the finding of the [[Bern zinc tablet]] in the 1980s, it is now more common to assume that the city was named after a pre-existing toponym of Celtic origin, possibly ''*berna'' "cleft".<ref>Andres Kristol (ed.): Lexikon der schweizerischen Gemeindenamen. Huber, Frauenfeld 2005, {{ISBN|3-7193-1308-5}}, p. 143.</ref> The bear was the heraldic animal of the [[Coat of arms of Bern|seal and coat of arms of Bern]] from at least the 1220s. The earliest reference to the keeping of live bears in the ''[[Bärengraben]]'' dates to the 1440s.