Daig (Switzerland)

St. Alban Gate is one of the few remaining parts of the medieval city wall of Basel. The reclusive St. Alban residential area has been home to the Daig families since the beginning of the 16th century.

Daig (/daɪɡ/) is an expression common in Basel and the rest of German-speaking Switzerland and refers to a milieu consisting of wealthy families from the Swiss city of Basel.

These primarily Protestant families had full civic rights in the then city-state since the High Middle Ages and are known for their particular idiosyncratic habits and a dialect distinct from that of the rest of the population.[1] For centuries the Daig was the social, political and economic elite of Basel, becoming a quasi city aristocracy, although always remaining judicially part of the bourgeois class.[1][2]

  1. ^ a b von der Mühll, Johanna (1969). Basler Sitten. Basel: Krebs. ISBN 3908121388.
  2. ^ Sarasin-Von der Mühll, Anna (1967). Baslerisches aus der Feder von Anna V. Sarasin. Basel: Helbing & Lichtenhahn.