WHy are the initials for Switzerland CH?

Question

WHy are the initials for Switzerland CH?

Answer 1

Confederation Helvetica is the Confederation of Helvetier's which were the people that inhabited the land before it became Switzerland.

Answer 2

I opened your question, not because I knew the answer but to learn! I had no clue as well.

Thumbs up for your question and thanks a lot to people that cleared up this one!

Answer 3

It stands for Confoederatio Helvetica (Helvetian Confederation). It's a federal confederation of 26 Cantons (states).

You can read more about it at http://www.admin.ch/org/polit/index.html...

Answer 4

You have the meaning for the initials now--the rest of the answer to "why" is that there are three official (four national) languages in Switzerland (none of which are Latin), and no one wants one of the OTHER languages' name to be official.

Answer 5

harryhedgehog is right. The old name for Switzerland was Helvetia.

Answer 6

Sweden has the 'S', Hungary has the 'H' (for Helvetia), so Switzerland has 'CH' for Confederatio Helvetia [its also on the Swiss coins].