why is swiss spelled in english

Old Oct 7, 2012, 4:48 am
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why is swiss spelled in english

Why is the LX airline name spelled using the English language?
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Old Oct 7, 2012, 5:11 am
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As we have 4 official languages in Switzerland English was probably the least common neutral denominator
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Old Oct 7, 2012, 5:12 am
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Originally Posted by Fendant
As we have 4 official languages in Switzerland English was probably the least common neutral denominator
^
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Old Oct 7, 2012, 9:23 am
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I would say has to do with the history of Swiss - as the predecessor (legally actually not!!!) of Swissair. Was the best name they came up with to keep the good name and image of Swissair without getting to close to legal issues - although I would say they still had huge support from somewhere that swissair did not oppose that Swiss (fully name Swiss International Airlines) was used
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Old Oct 7, 2012, 10:00 am
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Originally Posted by aubreyfromwheaton
Why is the LX airline name spelled using the English language?
Um, why wouldn't it be? Surely most international airline names are in English? Scandinavian, Brussels Airlines, Austrian, Finnair etc etc.

What is silly about the name that it's officially "Swiss International Air Lines AG" - so not Airlines but Air Lines.
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Old Oct 7, 2012, 10:17 am
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Originally Posted by Kanaman
What is silly about the name that it's officially "Swiss International Air Lines AG" - so not Airlines but Air Lines.
I guess they did it like this because it is closer to the old "Swissair"
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Old Oct 7, 2012, 12:10 pm
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Originally Posted by Kanaman
Um, why wouldn't it be? Surely most international airline names are in English? Scandinavian, Brussels Airlines, Austrian, Finnair etc etc.

What is silly about the name that it's officially "Swiss International Air Lines AG" - so not Airlines but Air Lines.
Scandinavian: English to avoid a choice between Norwegian, Swedish and Danish. Brussels airlines: English to avoid a choice between Dutch and French. Finnair: English to avoid a choice between Swedish and Finnish perhaps. Seems to prove the point re Swiss.

Other European legacy carriers: Lufthansa, KLM, LOT, Iberia, TAP, CSA all have original language names either abbreviated or anglicised. Those countries have a single official language.
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Old Oct 7, 2012, 12:59 pm
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You concept is certainly correct, however Spain has certainly not only one single language - and this might be the reason they called the airline Iberia.
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Old Oct 7, 2012, 1:49 pm
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There are certainly examples of English names in single-language countries, like Norwegian, Thai and Emirates. Still, I don't quite see the OP's point - is there something wrong with having an English name for an international airline? Seems convenient to me!
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Old Oct 7, 2012, 2:28 pm
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Originally Posted by Flying Lawyer
You concept is certainly correct, however Spain has certainly not only one single language - and this might be the reason they called the airline Iberia.
I would say that when the airline was founded, Spain had one official language. Times have changed and Catalans/Basques/etc in Spain have more rights and can speak their own languages freely now.
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Old Oct 7, 2012, 2:36 pm
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Austrian?
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Old Oct 7, 2012, 2:46 pm
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Originally Posted by MichielR
Other European legacy carriers: Lufthansa, KLM, LOT, Iberia, TAP, CSA all have original language names either abbreviated or anglicised. Those countries have a single official language.
LOT is not an abbreviation but a play with words - the original name is "Polskie Linie Lotnicze LOT S.A." or "PLL LOT", and "lot" means flight in Polish.
CSA actually works well in both languages - originally "Československé státní aerolinie" - "Czechoslovak State Airlines"

So, I guess there is no real rule here
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Old Oct 7, 2012, 2:47 pm
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Originally Posted by NewbieRunner
Austrian?
You mean Tyrolean?
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Old Oct 7, 2012, 4:36 pm
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Originally Posted by Kanaman
There are certainly examples of English names in single-language countries, like Norwegian, Thai and Emirates. Still, I don't quite see the OP's point - is there something wrong with having an English name for an international airline? Seems convenient to me!
I don't think the OP was trying to make a point, just curious about the reasons. I see nothing wrong with that.
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Old Oct 8, 2012, 12:37 am
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Aubrey;

" Why is the LX airline name spelled using the English language ? "

Yes, we do have four languages here.

SWISS, or Switzerland, was originally known as Schwyz, and originated around 972. The term became common to the region around 1499.

SWISS is translated to Schweiz (German), Suisse (French), Svizzera (Italian), and Svizra (Romansch, an ancient Latin language surviving from early Roman merchants).

We are also known as the Confoederatio Helvetica in Latin, or CH, which became official in 1899 with the advent of the Federal system. Hence the identity decal on our cars.

Just curious, but how do you think it should be spelled, and in what language ? What would be your choice ?

Meant in a friendly, helpful manner.
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