Talk:Switzerland/Archive 5

message: From the article: "National motto: One for all, all for one". Could you provide us with a source for this other than Alexandre Dumas? -- User:Docu
:*A quick search on admin.ch yields Allocution de Madame Ruth Dreifuss présidente de la Confédération à l'occasion de la Fête nationale  (also available in German and Italian) where Un pour tous, tous pour un is indeed mentioned as the national motto. Schutz 23:37, 20 Apr 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: *I'm swiss, and I've never heard of it. Switzerland has no official national motto. Mme Dreifuss was pulling that out of her sleeve, it is Dumas.  If there is anything that rings like a national motto, it would be "In the name of God, amen". This was the preamble of the Letter of Alliance, which was taken over to the constitution of 1848, and could not be kept out of the new constitution of 2000. It has attained  sort of a proverbial ring, but it's not an official *motto* as such. dab 08:54, 23 Sep 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: I've heard it before reading Ruth Dreifuss' speech on the web, so I doubt she made it up, but I can't find any other reference to it. I'll try to find something, maybe on http://www.swisshelpdesk.org/. Schutz 09:50, 23 Sep 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: Of course she didn't make it up. Alexandre Dumas did. It's a well-known phrase speech-makers are fond of, nothing more. — that said, some googling convinced me that it seems to be associated with the state somehow in the french-speaking part of Switzerland. eg.: http://www.distinction.ch/LD.Champignac/LD.Champignac.candid01.html : notre devise nationale, "Un pour tous, tous pour un !" — I assure you that, as a suisse alemanique, I have never heard of it. And even the french version seems to be only anecdotal, judging from the google results. dab 10:46, 23 Sep 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: I agree that the evidence is pretty sparse; I'm going to send a few emails to some addresses @admin.ch, we'll see if they can find a reference. In the meantime, we can continue to assume that there is no official motto. Schutz 11:01, 23 Sep 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: Ok, the question is settled, thanks to http://www.swisshelpdesk.org (very quick, impressive and accurate service !). Short answer: UNUS PRO OMNIBUS OMNES PRO UNO is the official motto, which can be translated in French as described above and in German Einer für alle, alle für Einen. For a justification, look at the (beautiful) pictures of the dome at http://www.parlament.ch/e/homepage/in-fotografien.htm, in particular http://www.parlament.ch/Poly/Download_Fotos/in-pg-kuppelhalle-2-g.jpg: the motto is there, in Latin, in the middle. In addition, I received a (very quick as well) answer from someone from @admin.ch saying the same thing (they refer to the Bundeshauskuppel as well, but will send me a more complete answer). I'll update the article (Latin or English or both ?) shortly if everyone is happy. Schutz 14:43, 23 Sep 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: Maybe Latin+French+German+English, following the example of Belgium? Schutz 14:49, 23 Sep 2004 (UTC)

text: I stand corrected. I have seen the inscription before, but I was not aware that it is anything like an official motto. good job! (to my excuse, there is   not a single hit from admin.ch!)dab 14:57, 23 Sep 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: Truth be told I am dumbfounded, too. I think the motto warrants a paragraph of explanation. Otherwise I'm afraid we'll keep having people "fixing" it.Rl 17:36, 23 Sep 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: Agreed, especially since I found a little bit of background material by googling using the latin motto (e.g. http://www.dhm.de/ausstellungen/mythen/english/schweiz.html ), and I'm still waiting for a more detailed answer from Bern. Where do you think it should go ? A new section ? Schutz 23:33, 23 Sep 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: My preferred solution would be to note how and when the motto was adopted, and put that note into History.Rl 07:11, 24 Sep 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: Will wait until I get more info and work on that. Thanks. Schutz 07:20, 24 Sep 2004 (UTC)

text: I'd rather have no motto at all, but now that we're stuck with it, it would seem rather elitist to only quote the Latin version. At least an English translation in parentheses or something like that seems appropriate. FWIW, it turns out the motto may actually be pretty well known with the folks who went to school not too long after WW II, no matter what language.Rl 21:23, 23 Sep 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: Have a look at the changes I made a few hours ago; I added the latin, German, French and English version. Any Italian or Romansh speaker around ? Schutz 23:33, 23 Sep 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: The point made by dab was that there may be too many language versions already, not too few.Rl 07:11, 24 Sep 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: I understand that; I made the modifications so that we can see what it looks like. Personaly, I don't mind the multiple translations, but I can understand if a majority of people prefer to have only latin+English translation. Schutz 07:20, 24 Sep 2004 (UTC)

text: quite - I meant, of course, latin + english translation. NPOV would dictate to give a translation in either all four national languages, or in none at all, but I doubt that anyone will really care about it. The Bundeshaus inscription is, after all, in latin precisely to avoid having to choose either french or german. dab 10:30, 28 Sep 2004 (UTC)

text: You are very right, however, Switzerland has a traditional motto, which is still a motto. If the German Wikipedia provides more information than the discussion below and the newly created Unus pro omnibus, omnes pro uno article, please feel free to translate it and post it here. In the meantime, I have reversed your change. Schutz 19:36, 19 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: National Motto, Part 1

message: The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:
* 
Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 15:25, 23 March 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion 

message: Putting the language IPA as a footnote in the bolding title. — 216.49.130.5 (talk) 23:03, 7 April 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. ― Blaze WolfTalkBlaze Wolf#6545 23:07, 7 April 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Semi-protected edit request on 7 April 2023 

message: Why didn't Germans not invade Swiss in WW2? 102.46.158.75 (talk) 03:48, 4 May 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: See here. Nobody (talk) 05:05, 4 May 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Why didn't Germans not invade Swiss in WW2 

message: The second paragraph of the introduction says that the major cultural and economic centres of Zürich, Geneva and Basel are located on the Swiss Plateau. This is of course not correct what concerns Basel. I don't know if the original writer wanted to mention Bern instead.
(I preferred writing this here instead of directly editing because it's quite a major article still.) 217.64.242.138 (talk) 12:35, 10 July 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Basel is not located on the Swiss plateau 

message: This article has 2 environment sub-sections which need to be merged (one is under the "geography" sub-sectionand the other under "education and science").. Swiss romulus (talk) 13:23, 15 August 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  2 "Environment" sections 

message: In the Federal state section of the article it says:
"It came with the expectation of serving the Holy See, and the Swiss were still obliged to serve Francis II of the Two Sicilies with Swiss Guards present at the siege of Gaeta in 1860."
However, according to Foreign soldiers in the risorgimento and anti-risorgimento : a transnational military history of Germans in the Italian armed groups, 1834-1870 (page 175-176):
"After the “revolt of the Swiss” on 15 May 1859 in Naples, the Swiss formations were dissolved that August, and the soldiers were left the option either to return home or to stay in southern Italy. The formally “Swiss” regiments were replaced at the end of 1859 by new “foreign regiments”. The ranks were filled by those Swiss soldiers that had chosen to stay and by newly arrived recruits, mostly from Austria and southern German states."
So were the Swiss obliged to serve the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies at the Siege of Gaeta or not? Howard🌽33 18:52, 1 December 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Siege of Gaeta 

message: Is British English the best and most appropriate choice for most Swiss pages? Iljhgtn (talk) 01:18, 12 December 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: I would say so. TunaVeniVidiVici 01:27, 12 December 2023 (UTC)

text: It is. Nobody (talk) 06:25, 12 December 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  British English 

message: No doubt there was a French control over Switzerland between 1798 and around 1813. But in order to put that information in the infobox, we need to have reliable sources. The date 5 March 1798 (beginning) is plausible, but needs to be sourced. The date 7 August 1815 (end) is in my opinion far-fetched and almost certainly wrong (much too late), and a very probable earlier date also needs to be sourced. Sapphorain (talk) 20:12, 26 December 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  French control 

message: Can detail be added on how the various cantonal govermental organs (cantonal legislatures & executives) relate to one another? It does not appear they are vertically integrated as the Federal Assembly and Federal Council are. Are the elections of both organs held at the same time in parallel elections? Does this mean that its possible to have a cantonal legislature controlled by a different party than that which controls the cantonal executive? Criticalthinker (talk) 12:36, 10 November 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: It is defined by each cantonal constitutions: https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2001/523_fga/de. See also p.267 in: http://www.wolf-linder.ch/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Swiss-political-system.pdf. -- ZH8000 (talk) 18:59, 10 November 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: Right, but can this be written about, generally? It appears that in all cantons that have a legislature and executive, they are elected separately, correct? Criticalthinker (talk) 09:34, 11 November 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: Yes, this is correct. All cantons independently elect their legislature and executive. The party composition of the legislature need not have a direct influence on the composition of the cantonal executive. Rather, the executive is elected independently and the public usually votes for 7 or 9 "ministers" themselves rather than parliament electing them as is the case on the federal level. However, this process varies between cantons. LPZ (talk) 12:42, 3 January 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  Cantonal bodies