Switzerland

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Country Name

Switzerland, and officially the Swiss Confederation.

Location

Switzerland is a country situated at the meeting of Western, Central, and Southern Europe. Switzerland is a landlocked country bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east.

It is a federal republic composed of 26 cantons, with federal authorities based in Bern.

Capital

Bern.

Reason for Naming

The English name Switzerland is a mixture containing Switzer, an obsolete term for the Swiss, which was in use during the 16th to 19th centuries. The English adjective Swiss is a loan from French Suisse, also in use since the 16th century.

The name Switzer is from the Alemannic Schwiizer, in origin an inhabitant of Schwyz and its associated territory, one of the 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", used since the 14th century.

The toponym Schwyz itself was first attested in 972, as Old High German Suittes, ultimately perhaps related to swedan ‘to burn, referring to the area of forest that was burned and cleared to build.