The official language of Schwyz is (the Swiss variety of)German, but the main spoken language is the local variant of theAlemannicSwiss German dialect.
The earliest certain record of the name dates to 972, recorded inMedieval Latin asvilla Suittes. There are a number of uncertain records dated between 924 and 960, in the formSwites (Suuites) andSwitz.[2] The name is recorded asSchwitz in the 13th century, and in the 17th to 18th century often asSchweitz. The name's etymology is uncertain. It was long presented as derived from the name of aneponymous founder in Swiss legend, oneSuito orSwiter, an explanation found in Swiss school textbooks until the first half of the 20th century. There is currently no consensus on the name's derivation.[3]Isaac Wake, diplomat of KingJames VI and I inBern, suggested in 1625 that the name originated inSweden, among theSuecia, "who in the time of king [sic]Sigebert made a transmigration out of Suecia and planted themselves in this country".[4] A Germanic etymology was suggested by Gatschet (1867), deriving the name from anOld High German verbsuedan "to burn" (referring toslash-and-burn clearing of woodland for habitation).[5] Brandstetter (1871) is critical of Gatschet's suggestion and prefers derivation from an Alemannic personal name inSvid- as it were presenting a scholarly defense of theSuito of the founding legend.[6] The etymology proposed for theSchweizerisches Idiotikon by Hubschmied (1929) derives the name from a Gallo-Roman *(alpes) suētas, from the Gaulish or Latin word for "pig", via a Romance *suēdes "(mountain, pasture) of pigs" yielding an AlemannicSwītes. Hubschmied distanced himself from this opinion in 1961, preferring an unspecified pre-Roman (or "Etruscan") source.Sonderegger (1966) revisits Gatschet'ssuedan "slash-and-burn" proposal, but now claims derivation from a cognate Celtic root,*sveit-, Proto-Celtic*sveitos with a meaning of "clearing" or similar, giving Gaulish *Svētos (the long vowel as inRēnos "Rhine"), Gallo-Romance *Svēdus, -is, and finallySwītes in Old High German by the 8th century.[7]
The nameSchwyz was extended to the area dominated by Schwyz (the Canton of Schwyz), and later to the entireOld Swiss Confederacy. Other cantons tended to resent this in the 15th century, but after 1499 the termSchwyzer was widely self-adopted, out of spite so to speak, since it had been employed as a term of abuse by the Swabian side during theSwabian War.Eidgenossenschaft andSchwytzerland (the origin of the English nameSwitzerland) could be used interchangeably as country names in the 16th century.
TheSwiss German pronunciation[ʃviːts] is the same for the name of the town and that of the country (the two are distinguished only by use of the definite article for the latter,[ʃviːts] "Schwyz",[tʃviːts] "Switzerland"). The spelling ofy for [iː] originates from the ligatureij in 15th-century handwriting.
Fountain in the central plaza in SchwyzAerial view (1963)
While a fewRoman era coins have been found in Schwyz, the earliest evidence of a settlement comes from the 8th century. TheAlamanni cemetery at theparish church and the church itself are both from the first half of the 8th century. This first church was followed by a secondottonian church around 1000, which may have been destroyed by the1117 Verona earthquake. In 1121 the third church building, aromanesque building, was consecrated. This was followed in the 15th century by the much larger fourth church which was destroyed, along with much of the village, by fire in 1642. The fifth church, an earlybaroque church was replaced because of serious structural defects by the current late baroque church which was dedicated in 1774.[8]
Because Schwyz was the capital of a canton, many of the government organizations administered both the town and the canton at the same time, and the history of the town is closely tied to the history of the canton.
According to the chronicle ofJohann Stumpf from 1548, the old town originally consisted of a village square, the church and its cemetery, the town hall, the inn, the archive tower and a number of scattered wooden houses. Around 1500, to distinguish it from the Canton of Schwyz, Schwyz town was often calledKilchgassen, which meant the village around the church but not the surrounding villages. The fire of 1642, which destroyed 47 buildings in the center of the village, allowed the town to be totally rebuilt. A new, larger town square with major roads radiating out was built in front of the new church and the new city hall. The houses were rebuilt as urban townhouses and a ring of about 30 largepatrician farm houses grew up surrounding the village center.[8]
Schwyz has an area, as of 2006[update], of 53.2 square kilometers (20.5 sq mi). Of this area, 46.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while 39.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 8.7% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (5.8%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).[10]
Schwyz had a population (as of December 2020[update]) of 15,435.[12] As of 2008[update], 15.6% of the population were resident foreign nationals. Over the year 2010–2011 the population reduced by 0.6%. Migration accounted for −0.9%, while births and deaths accounted for 0.0%.[10] Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaksGerman (12,441 or 90.1%) as their first language,Serbo-Croatian is the second most common (378 or 2.7%) andItalian is the third (273 or 2.0%). There are 23 people who speakFrench and 25 people who speakRomansh.[13]
As of 2008[update], the population was 49.9% male and 50.1% female. The population was made up of 5,824 Swiss men (42.2% of the population), 1,058 (7.7%) non-Swiss men, 5,932 Swiss women (43.0%) and 988 (7.2%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 6,681 or about 48.4% were born in Schwyz and lived there in 2000. There were 2,195 or 15.9% who were born in the same canton, while 2,780 or 20.1% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 1,797 or 13.0% were born outside of Switzerland.[13]
As of 2000[update], children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 25.6% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 60.3% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 14.1%.[10]
As of 2000[update], there were 6,314 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 6,305 married individuals, 722 widows or widowers and 461 individuals who are divorced.[13]
As of 2000[update], there were 5,250 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.5 persons per household.[10] There were 1,582 households that consist of only one person and 536 households with five or more people. In 2000[update], a total of 4,968 apartments (90.3% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 375 apartments (6.8%) were seasonally occupied and 156 apartments (2.8%) were empty.[14] As of 2009[update], the construction rate of new housing units was 4.8 new units per 1000 residents.[10]
As of 2003[update] the average price to rent an average apartment in Schwyz was 1185.58Swiss francs (CHF) per month (US$950, £530, €760 approx. exchange rate from 2003). The average rate for a one-room apartment was 543.08 CHF (US$430, £240, €350), a two-room apartment was about 904.87 CHF (US$720, £410, €580), a three-room apartment was about 1068.78 CHF (US$860, £480, €680) and a six or more room apartment cost an average of 1461.34 CHF (US$1170, £660, €940). The average apartment price in Schwyz was 106.2% of the national average of 1116 CHF.[15] The vacancy rate for the municipality, in 2010[update], was 0.25%.[10]
TheBundesbriefmuseum (Museum of the Swiss Charters of Confederation), theDominican nunsConvent of St. Peter am Bach, the entire medieval andearly modern settlement, theHermitage and chapel, the Forum der Schweizer Geschichte (Forum of Swiss History), theAb Yberg im Grund House, theBethlehem House at Reichsstrasse 9, theCeberg im Feldli house at Theodosiusweg 20, the house at Gotthardstrasse 99 in Ibach, theGrosshus at Strehlgasse 12, theImmenfeld house, the house at Langfeldweg 14 in Kaltbach, the house at Oberschönenbuch 79 in Ibach, the Herrenhaus Waldegg, the Hettlingerhäuser, the Hofstatt Ital Reding, theCatholicParish Church of St. Martin, the Maihof, the Palais Büeler, theRathaus (Town council house), the Reding House, the State Archives of Schwyz and theKöplihaus house are listed as a Swissheritage site of national significance. The entire old city of Schwyz is part of theInventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.[16]
In the2007 federal election the most popular party was theSVP which received 39.91% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were theCVP (26.12%), theSPS (17.05%) and theFDP (12.72%). In the federal election, a total of 5,554 votes were cast, and thevoter turnout was 57.8%.[17]
As of 2010[update], Schwyz had an unemployment rate of 1.8%. As of 2008[update], there were 484 people employed in theprimary economic sector and about 174 businesses involved in this sector. 2,756 people were employed in thesecondary sector and there were 179 businesses in this sector. 7,099 people were employed in thetertiary sector, with 696 businesses in this sector.[10]
In 2008[update] the total number offull-time equivalent jobs was 8,570. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 303, of which 273 were in agriculture and 30 were in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 2,647 of which 1,589 or (60.0%) were in manufacturing, 8 or (0.3%) were in mining and 928 (35.1%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 5,620. In the tertiary sector; 1,357 or 24.1% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 306 or 5.4% were in the movement and storage of goods, 272 or 4.8% were in a hotel or restaurant, 136 or 2.4% were in the information industry, 733 or 13.0% were the insurance or financial industry, 427 or 7.6% were technical professionals or scientists, 260 or 4.6% were in education and 1,053 or 18.7% were in health care.[18]
In 2000[update], there were 4,484 workers who commuted into the municipality and 2,168 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 2.1 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving.[19] Of the working population, 13.6% used public transportation to get to work, and 45.3% used a private car.[10]
From the 2000 census[update], 11,269 or 81.6% wereRoman Catholic, while 675 or 4.9% belonged to theSwiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 423members of an Orthodox church (or about 3.06% of the population), there were 7 individuals (or about 0.05% of the population) who belonged to theChristian Catholic Church, and there were 155 individuals (or about 1.12% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 5 individuals (or about 0.04% of the population) who wereJewish, and 502 (or about 3.64% of the population) who wereIslamic. There were 42 individuals who wereBuddhist, 31 individuals who wereHindu and 7 individuals who belonged to another church. 377 (or about 2.73% of the population) belonged to no church, areagnostic oratheist, and 385 individuals (or about 2.79% of the population) did not answer the question.[13]
Kantonsschule Kollegium Schwyz, an upper Secondary school in Schwyz
In Schwyz about 4,873 or (35.3%) of the population have completed non-mandatoryupper secondary education, and 1,473 or (10.7%) have completed additional higher education (eitheruniversity or aFachhochschule). Of the 1,473 who completed tertiary schooling, 71.1% were Swiss men, 19.4% were Swiss women, 5.3% were non-Swiss men and 4.1% were non-Swiss women.[13] As of 2000[update], there were 419 students in Schwyz who came from another municipality, while 186 residents attended schools outside the municipality.[19]
Schwyz is home to theKantonsbibliothek Schwyz library. The library has (as of 2008[update]) 108,142 books or other media, and loaned out 136,064 items in the same year. It was open a total of 276 days with average of 29 hours per week during that year.[20]
A major school in Schwyz is theKantonsschule Kollegium Schwyz (KKS), an upper Secondary school that is aGymnasium and avocational or technical college. The KKS has operated for over 150 years, though it builds on several older schools. The firstLatin school in Schwyz opened in 1627 in the formerCapuchin monastery of St. Josef im Loo. This school remained open until the1798 French invasion. On 25 July 1841, theJesuits laid the cornerstone of what would become the Jesuit College on the site of the modernKollegium. The school opened in 1844 but only remained under Jesuit control for three years. In 1847, Federal troops marched into Schwyz to suppress the CatholicSonderbund and forced the Jesuits to flee. It was reopened in 1855 under the CapuchinFather Theodosius Florentini and in the following year began teaching students. The school continued to teach students using both religious and secular teachers until the 1970s. In 1972, the lower Secondary students moved toPfäffikon and the school became an upper SecondaryKantonsschule.[21]
Schwyz has an average of 149.2 days of rain per year and on average receives 1,629 mm (64.1 in) ofprecipitation. The wettest month is August during which time Schwyz receives an average of 199 mm (7.8 in) of precipitation. During this month there is precipitation for an average of 13.9 days. The month with the most days of precipitation is June, with an average of 14.8, but with only 182 mm (7.2 in) of precipitation. The driest month of the year is February with an average of 99 mm (3.9 in) of precipitation over 13.9 days.[22]
TheA4 motorway, betweenZürich and theBrunnen passes through the west of the municipality, and the town is linked to it by main roads and motorway junctions. Other main roads connect the town toLucerne (along both banks ofLake Lucerne), to theGotthard Pass and southern Switzerland, and toPfaffikon andEinsiedeln in the north of the canton of Schwyz. A minor road crosses theIbergeregg Pass toOberiberg, providing an alternative route to Einsiedeln. Other minor roads reach to near the summits of both theHaggenegg Pass andHolzegg Pass, but only hiking trails actually cross these passes and continue toAlpthal.[9]
From 6 October 1900 to 14 December 1963, theSchwyzer Strassenbahnen linked the Schwyz railway station with the town centre. On 8 May 1915, the additional section between Schwyz andBrunnen See was opened[23] – and on the same day, the Schwyz SBB–Schwyz line was shut down. The trams were eventually replaced by theAuto AG Schwyz, which today operates 12 bus lines in the cantons of Lucerne and Schwyz.
^Viktor Wiebel, 'Suittes – Schwyz – Schweiz : Geschichte und Deutung des Namens Schwyz'Mitteilungen des historischen Vereins des Kantons Schwyz 65 (1972) (retro.seals.chArchived 3 March 2016 at theWayback Machine)
^Lexikon der schweizerischen Gemeindenamen, Frauenfeld 2005, 819f.
^Wake, Isaac (1655).A three fold help to political observations contained in three discourses. Written by that learned and experienced gentleman, Sir Jsaac Wake. 1. The first concerning the thirteen cantons of the Helvetical League, or of the Switzers. 2. The second declaring the state of Italy, as it stood neer about the year 1625. 3. The third touching the proceedings of the King of Sweden in his wars in Germany. Published for the benefit of the diligent observer. Andrew Crook. p. 59.
^Albert S. Gatschet,Ortsetymologische Forschungen als Beiträge zu einer Toponomastik der Schweiz, 1867.
^Brandstetter,Die Ortsnamen Schwiz und Stans (1871).Svid- as a first element inGermanic names (such asSvidger,Svidbert, Svidulf) is somewhat rare but well recorded, Förtsemann,Altdeutsches Namenbuch (1856),1138.
^Stefan Sonderegger, 'Die Ausbildung der deutsch-romanischen Sprachgrenze in der Schweiz im Mittelalter',Rheinische Vierteljahrsblätter 31, Bonn, 1966/67, 223–290. A summary of the history of suggestions is given in Viktor Weibel,Suittes – Schwyz – Schweiz : Geschichte und Deutung des Namens Schwyz,Mitteilungen des historischen Vereins des Kantons Schwyz 65 (1972).
^"Kantonsliste A-Objekte".KGS Inventar (in German). Federal Office of Civil Protection. 2009. Archived fromthe original on 28 June 2010. Retrieved28 May 2010.
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