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Concept
Canton of Uri
Summary
The canton of Uri (Kanton Uri ˈuːʁi Chantun Uri; Canton d'Uri; Canton Uri) is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland and a founding member of the Swiss Confederation. It is located in Central Switzerland. The canton's territory covers the valley of the Reuss between the St. Gotthard Pass and Lake Lucerne.
The official language of Uri is (the Swiss variety of Standard) German, but the main spoken dialect is the Alemannic Swiss German called de.
Uri was once the only canton whose children in school had to learn Italian as their first foreign language, but in the school year of 2005/2006, that was changed to English, as in other Central and Northeastern Swiss cantons. The canton's population is about 35,000, of which 3,046 (or 8.7%) are foreigners.
The legendary William Tell is said to have hailed from Uri. The historical landmark Rütli lies within the canton of Uri.
The name of the valley is first mentioned in the 8th or 9th century, in the Latinized form of Uronia.
In the medieval period, the name referred not to the entire Reuss valley but just to Altdorf and the surrounding settlements and estates. The extension of the name to a larger territory is the result of the territorial expansion of the canton in the 15th century. However, usage of Uri as referring to Altdorf remained current.
From the 13th century onward, the German form of the name is recorded as Ure(n). The modern form Uri dates to the 16th century.
The name has been derived from either Latin ora "brim, edge, margin" (reflected as Rumantsch ur), or from a pre-Roman hydronym containing the PIE root u̯er "water", in either case extended by a suffix in -n-. Both etymologies would refer to the Reuss and/or the shore of Lake Lucerne. The -n- suffix was reduced to an ending in -n in Middle High German, and the ending -n in the German toponym was lost only in early modern German (remaining visible in the demonym Urner).
There is a long-standing popular etymology associating the name with ûr, the German name of the aurochs.
Official source
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