lauterbrunnen valley switzerland

Lauterbrunnen is a municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. The municipality lies in the Lauterbrunnen Valley and comprises the villages Lauterbrunnen, Wengen, Mürren, Gimmelwald, Stechelberg, and Isenfluh. The population of the Lauterbrunnen village is less than that of Wengen, but greater than that of the others.Lauterbrunnen was first mentioned in 1240 as "in claro fonte", a Romance language place name meaning "clear spring". By 1253 it was known to German speakers as Liuterbrunnon which by 1268 had the alternate spelling of Luterbrunnen. While the meaning of brunnen is undoubtedly spring or fountain, there is some dispute about the meaning of lauter: Some translate it as clear, clean or bright (which compares to the earlier Romance language meaning of the place mentioned above) while others translate it as "many" or "louder". A local explanation is that the name Lauterbrunnen means "many springs" using a modern meaning of the word lauter in German: however this could be an example of a folk etymology.Lauterbrunnen is first mentioned in 1240 as in claro fonte. In 1304 it was mentioned as Luterbrunnen. The oldest trace of a settlement in the area is a single Roman coin which was discovered in the Blumental. When the Lauterbrunnen valley first appears in the historic record, during the 13th century, it was owned by the Freiherr of Wädenswil. In 1240 the Freiherr of Wädenswil sold the Sefinen valley to Interlaken Abbey. Over the following century, the Abbey and other local lords began to expand their power in the Lauterbrunnen and neighboring valleys. However, around 1300, the Lord of Turn began to settle his Walser speaking people in the nearby Lötschen valley and into the highlands of the Lauterbrunnen valley. By 1346, the Walser villages of Lauterbrunnen, Gimmelwald, Mürren, Sichellauenen and Trachsellauenen all had village governments and a certain amount of independence under the Abbey. Three years later, much of the Bernese Oberland unsuccessfully rose up against Abbey. When the Abbey suppressed the rebellion, the Walser villages bore the brunt of the Abbey's wrath.

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