Bern: A Swiss canton which takes its name from its chief town, which grew up round a castle built in 1192, by Duke Berchtold V. of Zahringen. The name Berne appears in 1224 on a seal of the town. Not improbably, Berchtold gave the place the name of Berne in memory of Dietrich of Berne (Verona), a favorite hero of Alamannic poetry. According to the local legend, the town was named from a bear, the first animal killed in a hunting expedition in an oak forest on the site of the town. Hence a bear rampant on a gold

---