Old Swiss Confederacy - Name

Name

The specification "Old" was introduced in retrospect, after the end of the Napoleonic era, alongside the term Ancien Régime, a retronym distinguishing the pre-Napoleonic from the restored confederation. Contemporarily, the confederacy was simply known as Eidgenossenschaft (Eydtgnoschafft) or "oath fellowship" in reference to the treaties between the individual cantons. This term was first used in the Pfaffenbrief of 1370. The territories of the confederacy came to be referred to collectively as Schweiz or Schweizerland (in contemporary spelling Schwytzerland, whence English Switzerland) beginning in the mid-16th century. From that time, the Confederacy came to be seen as a single state, and was also called the Swiss Republic (Republic der Schweitzer, République des Suisses, Republica Helvetiorum, so by Josias Simmler 1576), after the fashion of styling individual urban cantons as Republics (Republic of Zürich. Republic of Berne, Republic of Basel).