Meanings
plural Landammanns · plural Landammänner
- A chief magistrate in certain cantons or other administrative districts in Switzerland.
2004, Derek Benjamin Heater, A Brief History of Citizenship, NYU Press, →ISBN, page 97, For example, in the canton of Uri, the villagers elected a Landammann (chief magistrate) each year, yet only a limited number of families supplied candidates.
3 more examples
1889, Francis Ottiwell Adams and C. D. Cunningham, The Swiss Confederation, Macmillan and Co., page 117, There, on the first Sunday in May, the people assemble in a meadow at Bözlingen an der Gand, not far from Altdorf. The Landammann, after having duly attended mass in the village church, proceeds in procession to the place of meeting.
1891, Lina Hug and Richard Stead, Switzerland, Second Edition, T. Fisher Unwin (London) and G. P. Putnam's sons (New York), page 178, On the first Thursday in April, in solemn procession, they revisit the battlefield, and on the spot the Landammann tells the fine old story of their deliverance from foreign rule, whilst priest and minister offer thanksgiving.
1922, Charles Scott Fearenside (trans.), Eli Filip Heckscher and Harald Westergaard (auths.), The Continental System: An Economic Interpretation, H. Milford, page 309, The Landammann (President) summed up the situation in April 1812, in the distressful proposition that 'the industries of Switzerland are now nearing their end'; and a considerable emigration took place, among other places, to the left bank of the Rhine.
Origin
- Alemannic GermanLandammann
- Alemannic GermanLandammann
- EnglishLandammann
Borrowed from Alemannic German Landammann (“a land official”).
More words from Alemannic German
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Landammann. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Landammann
“Landammann.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Landammann. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Landammann,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Landammann.
Source: Landammann on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.