Editing Switzerland (section)

== Etymology ==
{{Main|Name of Switzerland}}
{{anchor|Etymology}}The English name ''Switzerland'' is a portmanteau of ''Switzer'', an obsolete term for a [[Swiss people|Swiss]] person which was in use during the 16th to 19th centuries, and ''land''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=swiss {{!}} Etymology, origin and meaning of swiss by etymonline |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/swiss |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110430171445/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Swiss |archive-date=30 April 2011 |access-date=15 September 2022 |website=www.etymonline.com |language=en}}</ref> The English adjective ''Swiss'' is a [[loanword]] from French ''{{lang|fr|Suisse}}'', also in use since the 16th century. The name ''Switzer'' is from the [[Alemannic German|Alemannic]] ''{{lang|gsw|Schwiizer}}'', in origin an inhabitant of ''[[Schwyz]]'' and its [[Canton of Schwyz|associated territory]], one of the {{Lang|de|[[Waldstätte]]}} cantons which formed the nucleus of the [[Old Swiss Confederacy]]. The Swiss began to adopt the name for themselves after the [[Swabian War]] of 1499, used alongside the term for "Confederates", {{Lang|de|[[Eidgenossen]]}} (literally: ''comrades by oath''), used since the 14th century. {{anchor|CH}}The [[Data codes for Switzerland#Country|data code for Switzerland]], CH, is derived from [[Latin]] {{Lang|la|[[Confoederatio Helvetica]]}} (''Helvetic Confederation'').

The toponym ''Schwyz'' itself was first attested in 972, as [[Old High German]] ''{{lang|goh|Suittes}}'', perhaps related to ''{{lang|goh|swedan}}'' 'to burn' (cf. [[Old Norse]] {{Lang|non|svíða}} 'to singe, burn'), referring to the area of forest that was burned and cleared to build.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Room |first=Adrian |url=https://archive.org/details/placenamesofworl00room |title=Placenames of the world : origins and meanings of the names for over 5000 natural features, countries, capitals, territories, cities, and historic sites |publisher=McFarland |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-7864-1814-5 |location=Jefferson, N.C. |oclc=54385937 |author-link=Adrian Room}}</ref> The name was extended to the area dominated by the canton, and after the Swabian War of 1499 gradually came to be used for the entire Confederation.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Switzerland |encyclopedia=Catholic Encyclopedia |publisher=New Advent |url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14358a.htm |access-date=15 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100122153740/http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14358a.htm |archive-date=22 January 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=On Schwyzers, Swiss and Helvetians |url=http://www.bar.admin.ch/archivgut/00591/00601/00602/index.html?lang=en# |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100805105934/http://www.bar.admin.ch/archivgut/00591/00601/00602/index.html?lang=en%23 |archive-date=5 August 2010 |website=admin.ch}}</ref> The [[Swiss German]] name of the country, ''{{lang|gsw|Schwiiz}}'', is homophonous to that of the canton and the settlement, but distinguished by the use of the definite article (''{{lang|gsw|d'Schwiiz}}'' for the Confederation,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Züritütsch, Schweizerdeutsch |url=http://www.schweizer-deutsch.ch/uploads/media/einige_Beispielseiten_2007-07-05_01.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160112131458/http://www.schweizer-deutsch.ch/uploads/media/einige_Beispielseiten_2007-07-05_01.pdf |archive-date=12 January 2016 |access-date=26 January 2010 |website=schweizerdeutsch.ch |page=2}}</ref> but simply ''{{lang|gsw|Schwyz}}'' for the canton and the town).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kanton Schwyz: Kurzer historischer Überblick |url=http://www.sz.ch/xml_1/internet/de/application/d2/d56/d756/f759.cfm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160815131226/https://www.sz.ch/xml_1/internet/de/application/d2/d56/d756/f759.cfm |archive-date=15 August 2016 |access-date=26 January 2010 |website=sz.ch}}</ref> The long [iː] of Swiss German is historically and still often today spelled {{angle bracket|y}} rather than {{angle bracket|ii}}, preserving the original identity of the two names even in writing.

The Latin name {{Lang|la|Confoederatio Helvetica}} was [[Neologism|neologised]] and introduced gradually after the [[Switzerland as a federal state|formation of the federal state]] in 1848, harking back to the Napoleonic [[Helvetic Republic]]. It appeared on coins from 1879, inscribed on the [[Federal Palace of Switzerland|Federal Palace]] in 1902 and after 1948 used in the official seal<ref>{{Cite web |title=Confoederatio helvetica (CH) |url=https://hls-dhs-dss.ch/articles/009827/2020-09-15/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150927075128/http://www.hls-dhs-dss.ch/textes/d/D9827.php |archive-date=27 September 2015 |access-date=15 September 2022 |website=hls-dhs-dss.ch |language=de}}, Historical Lexicon of Switzerland.</ref> (e.g., the [[ISO 4217|ISO banking code]] "CHF" for the [[Swiss franc]], the Swiss postage stamps ('HELVETIA') and the country top-level domain ".ch", are both taken from the state's Latin name). {{Lang|la|[[Helvetica]]}} is derived from the ''[[Helvetii]]'', a [[Gaulish tribe]] living on the [[Swiss Plateau]] before the [[Switzerland in the Roman era|Roman era]].

''[[Helvetia]]'' appeared as a [[national personification]] of the Swiss confederacy in the 17th century in a 1672 play by Johann Caspar Weissenbach.<ref>{{HDS|16440|Helvetia}}</ref>