The toponym ''Schwyz'' itself was first attested in 972, as Old High German '''', ultimately perhaps related to '''' ‘to burn’ (cf. Old Norse ''svíða'' ‘to singe, burn’), referring to the area of forest that was burned and cleared to build. The name was extended to the area dominated by the canton, and after the Swabian War of 1499 gradually came to be used for the entire Confederation.