Waldstätte (German:[ˈvaltʃtɛtə], "forested sites/settlements;"Latin:civitates silvestres) is a term which has been used since the early thirteenth century to refer to theStätte (singular:Statt, "site" "settlement"), or laterOrt(schaft) (plural:Orte, "locality" "place" "lieu") orStand (plural:Stände, "estate") of the early confederate allies ofUri,Schwyz andUnterwalden in today'sCentral Switzerland.[1]
From the 13th to 19th centuries, the termWaldstätte also synoptically referred to the nucleus of the Swiss Confederacy of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden; later, the term was gradually replaced by the termUrschweiz.[2]
The termWald ("forest; woods") is to be understood in contrast toForst, the former inMiddle High German terminology referring to cultivated land of alternating pastures, fields and woods, while the latter referred to deep, uncultivated forests (silva invia et inculta).[3]
The Middle High German termsWaldstette orStette (in the sense of "forested site/settlement") are also used alongsideStett (modernStadt, or "town, city", in the sense of a powerful, possibly protected settlement with special rights) andLender (modernLänder, in the sense of rural countrysides) in reference to the individualconfederate allies into the first half of 15th century and became gradually replaced by the termOrt ("point; lieu") orStand ("state"), which stayed prominent in German-speaking Switzerland until theHelvetic Republic; the termcanton (in German:Kanton), in origin a Romance translation of GermanOrt, was unknown for the German-speaking allies until around 1650.[4]
The first recorded use of the term specifically as referring to the woodedvalleys of Central Switzerland is in a document dated 1289, mentioningze Swiz in der waltstat (i.e. "in Schwyz, in the wooded site").
In 1323,Glarus is named aWaldstatt alongside Schwyz. The application to the allies of the earlySwiss Confederacy dates to 1309. In 1310, DukeFrederick the Fair complains about the king impeding his rights to thecivitatibus Silvanis.
With the establishment of the Confederacy in the 1310s, the term is adopted as an exonym, and in the pacts whichexpanded the Confederacy, with Lucerne in 1332 and with Berne in 1353.[citation needed]
The inclusion ofLucerne as a "fourth"Waldstätte is first mentioned in an addition dated to the 1450s in theSilver Book ofEgloff Etterlin.
In the protocols of theSwiss Diet in the second half of the 15th century, under the presidency of Lucerne, the termvier waltstette sees frequent use.Albrecht von Bonstetten in hisSuperioris Germaniae Confoederationis descriptio (1479) suggests that the termvier Waldstett (Latinizedquatuor Loca Silvarum) was in common use.
Lake Lucerne was given the new name ofVierwaldstättersee (aka Lake of Four Forested Sites) in the 16th century.[1]
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