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Origin and history of Swiss

Swiss(n.)

"native or inhabitant of Switzerland," 1510s, from French Suisse, from Middle High German Suizer, from Suiz "Switzerland" (see Switzerland). Alternative Switzer (1570s) "a Swiss" now is archaic (compare German Schweizer). English also used Swisser.

As an adjective from 1520s, "of or belonging to Switzerland or the Swiss." Swiss Guards, in reference to a mercenary troop protecting a sovereign, is by 1700. Swiss banks were notable by 1949 for assuring anonymity and security. Swiss cheese is attested from 1808; colloquially as a type of something "full of holes," by 1924.

also from 1510s

Entries linking to Swiss

Switzerland

named for Schwyz, one of its original cantons. On postage stamps, etc., identified by the Roman name for the region, Helvetia, to avoid having to print the name in the country's four official languages: Suisse, Schweiz, Svizzera, Svizra.

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    Trends of Swiss

    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

    More to explore

    chalet
    1782, "hut or cabin in the Swiss mountains for cattle and herdsmen to shelter for the night," from Swiss-French chalet "herdsman's...
    Amish
    Swiss Mennonite preacher who founded the sect....The surname is a contraction of Old High German ambahtman, title of an official in the German Swiss cantons, from ambet "...
    eurythmic
    eurhythmics), "system of rhythmical body movement to music, used as therapy or to teach musical understanding," developed by Swiss...
    pi
    mathematical constant for the ratio of the circumference of a circle to the diameter, from 1841 in English, used in Latin 1748 by Swiss...
    schizophrenia
    between thought, emotion, and action; literally "a splitting of the mind," from German Schizophrenie (1908), coined by Swiss...
    canton
    From c. 1600 as "a subdivision of a country;" applied to the sovereign states of the Swiss republic from 1610s....
    ambivalence
    "simultaneous conflicting feelings," 1924 (by 1912 as ambivalency), from German Ambivalenz, coined 1910 by Swiss psychologist...
    country
    mid-13c., "(one's) native land;" c. 1300, "any geographic area," sometimes with implications of political organization, from Old French contree, cuntrede "region, district, country," from Vulgar Latin *(terra) contrata "(land) lying opposite," or "(land) spread before one," in Me
    land
    Old English lond, land, "ground, soil," also "definite portion of the earth's surface, home region of a person or a people, territory marked by political boundaries," from Proto-Germanic *landja- (source also of Old Norse, Old Frisian Dutch, Gothic land, German Land), perhaps fro
    nation
    c. 1300, nacioun, "a race of people, large group of people with common ancestry and language," from Old French nacion "birth, rank; descendants, relatives; country, homeland" (12c.) and directly from Latin nationem (nominative natio) "birth, origin; breed, stock, kind, species; r

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    Dictionary entries near Swiss
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