Well attestedNamed from the place
gnome of Zürich
noun · first attested 1964
A British cabinet minister coined it in one bad night of a sterling crisis.
A Swiss banker or currency speculator, cast as working secretly against another country's economy.
47.3744°N 8.5411°E · Q72
Record
- Relationship
- Named from the place
- Confidence
- Well attestedThe place link is the standard scholarly account.
- Attested
- 1964
- Part of speech
- noun
Explanations here are written for this atlas. Dictionary text is not copied; the sources are linked so the claim can be checked.
- Step 1
Zurich
- In English
gnome of Zürich
George Brown used the line during Labour's emergency meetings over pressure on the pound in November 1964, though Harold Wilson had reached for similar gnome imagery back in 1956. Gnomes were a stock image for secretive underground hoarding, and the phrase stuck to Zurich because that is where the money was.
Switzerland
All 10 entries 9 more words from Switzerland
GruyèreThe cheese is named for a small town in Fribourg.GruyèresOerlikonThe anti-aircraft gun is named for a Zurich suburb.OerlikonSwiss cheeseThe holes made a country into a cheese.SwitzerlandLucerne hammerNamed after the arsenal where the surviving examples happened to be stored.LucerneSwiss bank accountSwiss secrecy became law in 1934 and was largely dismantled by 2018.SwitzerlandDavos ManA magazine coined it as praise; a Harvard political scientist turned it into an accusation.DavosfianeliteA single small Alpine manganese mine produced a vanadate found nowhere else.Val FerreragrimseliteIt was found inside a hydroelectric cable tunnel bored through the Bernese Alps.Grimsel Pass