No other nickname has been quite this puzzling for historians and etymologists. How did Lucerne become the “Leuchtenstadt”, the city of lights? Is the name’s origin religious, botanical, or does it all lead back to a fish? Keep on reading and choose your favourite explanation.
According to some, the name of the city – Lucerne – is derived from the Latin “lucerna”, a term describing a ray of light sent down to Earth by an angel. It hit the precise spot where the “Hofkirche” is located today. Others claim that “Leuchtenstadt” has nothing to do with light at all. It goes back to the local flora and comes from the “lucerne” plant, also known as alfalfa. Alternatively, the name might be derived from the Latin term “luciaria”, which means “a school of pike”. This would suggest that Lucerne used to be a fishing village.