![\"Zuriputsch\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Zentralbibliothek_Zurich_-_Der_6te_Herbstmonat_1839_in_Zurich_-_000001520_1.jpg\")
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Fighting on Zurich’s Paradeplatz during the Z\u00fcriputsch in 1839. <\/p>\n
Public Domain \/ Zentralbibliothek Z\u00fcrich <\/p>\n
What links a bumper car to a coup d\u2019\u00e9tat? The answer is one of the very few Swiss-German words to make the leap across Swiss borders and into foreign dictionaries: putsch. Buckle up for a fascinating \u2013 and often violent \u2013 etymological journey.\n<\/p>\n
This content was published on <\/p>\n
June 6, 2026 – 11:00\n<\/p>\n
From angst to zeitgeist via schadenfreude and wanderlust, hundreds of German words appear in English dictionaries and (pretentious) conversations. When it comes to naming Swiss-German words, it\u2019s a different story. Some English speakers might guess muesli \u2013 maybe r\u00f6sti \u2013 but most don\u2019t get further than that.<\/p>\n
And you can\u2019t blame them. Not all words are as hard on the throat as Chuchich\u00e4schtli (a kitchen cupboard), but Swiss-German can certainly be daunting. Nevertheless, one little word has successfully been exported around the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a parliamentary putsch by the bosses and the bigwigs against the working people of this country [\u2026]. It\u2019s a putsch against the sovereignty of the cantons.\u201d C\u00e9dric Wermuth wasn\u2019t happy. The co-president of the left-wing Social Democratic Party was reacting in parliamentExternal link<\/a> last year to a decision by the House of Representatives not to give precedence to cantonal minimum wages over collective labour agreements. \u201cI can reassure you,\u201d replied Philipp Matthias Bregy, president of the Centre Party. \u201cThere\u2019s no putsching going on here today.\u201d<\/p>\n What is a putsch? <\/p>\n A putsch and coup d\u2019\u00e9tat are pretty much the same, but with subtle differences, depending on whom you ask. Neither is a revolution.<\/p>\n Russian-American philosopher Ayn Rand wrote an articleExternal link<\/a>, published in The New York Times Magazine in 1970, asking \u201cAre We in the Middle of the Second American Revolution?\u201d \u201cThe New Left does not portend a revolution, as its press agents claim, but a Putsch. A revolution is the climax of a long philosophical development and expresses a nation\u2019s profound discontent; a Putsch is a minority\u2019s seizure of power. The goal of a revolution is to overthrow tyranny; the goal of a Putsch is to establish it.\u201d<\/p>\n Twenty years later, also in the New York Times, William Safire in his column on the English languageExternal link<\/a> turned to what was going on in the Soviet Union, namely the attempt of Communist hardliners to topple Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. \u201cAlthough \u2018failed coup\u2019 is not incorrect, there\u2019s something wrong with it: why use a modifier to set straight a not-quite-right noun when the right noun is available?\u201d Safire wrote. \u201cThe right word, used by Boris Yeltsin from the start, perhaps for its Nazi beer-hall associations, is putsch. The German word also means \u2018blow, thrust\u2019, same as the original French coup, but has the connotation of \u2018attempt\u2019 rather than \u2018successful quick completion\u2019. A rebellion is a revolution that failed; a putsch is a coup that did not come off.\u201d<\/p>\n Does Safire have a point? Is a putsch a failed coup? Often, yes, but the Zuriputsch, for one, can be considered a qualified success.<\/p>\n For David Lane, a sociologist at the University of Cambridge writing in 2008External link<\/a>, a putsch is led by an elite that is not currently close to power (such as the army), whereas a coup d\u2019\u00e9tat involves one political faction replacing another. \u201cThese political processes are distinguished by relatively little public participation, either in the overthrow or in the defence of the incumbents, and they have by intention no significant social or economic effects,\u201d Lane said.<\/p>\n The Chambers Dictionary (13th edition) defines a putsch as \u201ca sudden revolutionary outbreak; a coup d\u2019\u00e9tat\u201d and a coup d\u2019\u00e9tat as \u201ca violent or subversive action resulting in a change of government or state policy\u201d.<\/p>\n Modern Switzerland is renowned for its political stability, but things were very different 200 years ago. One of the main flashpoints was tension between conservative rural populations and progressive governments and residents in cities. In 1833, for example, political quarrels and armed conflict resulted\u00a0in the historic canton of Basel splitting into two new cantons, Basel City and Basel Country.<\/p>\n Z\u00fcriputsch<\/p>\n Things came to the boil in 1839, when a liberal German theologian, David Friedrich Strauss \u2013 whose view in a nutshell was that Jesus\u2019s miracles were in fact myths used by the Church as PR \u2013 was appointed professor at the University of Zurich. This triggered such a storm that Strauss was pensioned off before even starting (he gave the money to the poor).<\/p>\n However, \u201cthe conservative, modernisation\u2011critical rural population was not satisfied with this outcome\u201d, the Historical Dictionary of Switzerland explainsExternal link<\/a> with considerable understatement. \u201cThey criticised the lack of religiosity in primary schools and the teacher-training seminary and demanded the abolition of the university.\u201d<\/p>\n The Zurich authorities then banned assemblies convened by a conservative committee and deployed infantry to maintain public order. On September 5, Bernhard Hirzel, a pastor in Pf\u00e4ffikon, a municipality outside Zurich, ordered the church bells to ring for four hours in the evening. Other communities followed suit. The following morning it all kicked off.<\/p>\n \u201cAt 7am, Zurich\u2019s Paradeplatz was stormed by some 2,000 insurgents,\u201d wrote newspaper BlickExternal link<\/a>. \u201cBy this time, the cantonal government had already been holed up in the post office for hours. The mob, armed with pitchforks, scythes and halberds, had come to overthrow them.\u201d Soldiers stepped in, and the subsequent fighting cost the lives of 14 protestors and a member of the cantonal government (who had tried to order a ceasefire). The government collapsed, and new elections were held three days later, resulting in victory for the conservatives.<\/p>\n \u201cThese events attracted a great deal of attention abroad,\u201d Blick said. \u201cGerman newspapers reported on the Z\u00fcriputsch [Zurich Putsch]. In France and England, reports soon referred to \u2018le putsch\u2019 or \u2018the putsch\u2019 in Switzerland.\u201d<\/p>\n (In)famous putsches <\/p>\n Countless coup d\u2019\u00e9tats and uprisings have occurred throughout history. Here are some that are generally known as putsches:<\/p>\n 1830 \u2013 Frei\u00e4mterputsch. Arguably the first mention of putsch in the political sense. A bloodless revolution by the rural population in canton Aargau, northern Switzerland, demanding changes to the cantonal constitution. While the government wasn\u2019t overthrown, it agreed to a full revision of the constitution.<\/p>\n 1839 \u2013 Zurich Putsch. See article.<\/p>\n 1890 \u2013 Tessiner Putsch. Supporters of the Ticino Liberals rose up against the conservative cantonal government in Italian-speaking Switzerland. Following occupation of the armoury in Bellinzona, an armed mob stormed the government building in the centre of the city. Various officials and representatives of the Conservatives were arrested, and one politician was fatally shot. The insurgents set up a liberal transitional government, which was replaced later in the year by a government in which both main political groups were represented.<\/p>\n 1920 \u2013 Kapp Putsch. An abortive coup d\u2019\u00e9tat against the German national government in Berlin by parts of the armed forces, as well as nationalist and monarchist factions. Although the government was forced to flee the city, the coup failed after a few days, when large sections of the German population joined a\u00a0general strike\u00a0called by the government.<\/p>\n 1923 \u2013 Beer Hall Putsch. Also known as the Munich Putsch. On November 8, Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler and about 600 Sturmabteilung (SA) members headed to the B\u00fcrgerbr\u00e4ukeller, where the minister-president of Bavaria was delivering a speech. As the SA surrounded the hall, Hitler entered, fired a shot into the ceiling and claimed that the Bavarian government had been overthrown and that the national revolution had begun. A couple of days later Hitler was arrested, charged with treason and sentenced to five years in prison (he served nine months).<\/p>\n 1934 \u2013 July Putsch. A failed coup d\u2019\u00e9tat in Austria against the Fatherland Front government of Engelbert Dollfuss by Austrian Nazis. The Austrian government eventually suppressed the coup, with more than 200 people being killed in six days of fighting.<\/p>\n 1961 \u2013 Algiers Putsch. Also known as the Putsch of the Generals. A failed coup d\u2019\u00e9tat intended to force French President Charles de Gaulle not to abandon French Algeria, the resident European community and pro-French Algerians. It was organised in French Algeria by retired French Army generals and brought the nation to the brink of civil war.<\/p>\n 1991 \u2013 August Putsch. A failed attempt by hardliners of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), including top military and civilian officials, to seize control of the country from Mikhail Gorbachev, who was Soviet president and General Secretary of the CPSU at the time.<\/p>\n 2021 \u2013 \u2018Presidential Putsch\u2019. While a few commentatorsExternal link<\/a> have referred to the storming of the US Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump as a putsch, others have pointed out that Trump was trying to hold onto power rather than seize it. They argue it was therefore a self-coup.<\/p>\n 2023 \u2013 Wagner Group rebellion. The Wagner Group, a Russian private military company led by Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, staged an uprising against the Russian government which seems to tick many of the putsch boxesExternal link<\/a>. The march on Moscow lasted one day, and, to no one\u2019s surprise, Prigozhin died in a plane crash a couple of months later.<\/p>\n Kapow! Putsch!<\/p>\n While this was not quite the first use of putsch in the recognisable modern sense of a coup d\u2019\u00e9tat or a sudden violent attempt to remove a government by force (the Frei\u00e4mterputsch in neighbouring Aargau had taken place nine years earlier), the word\u2019s meaning has taken some surprising twists over the past 500 years. How did it end up in politics?<\/p>\n \u201cPutsch is a so-called onomatopoeia. When two things collide, they go \u2018putsch\u2019,\u201d wrote Christoph LandoltExternal link<\/a>, a linguist at the\u00a0Swiss Idiotikon, a Swiss-German dictionary. Landolt quoted 19th-century sources in which the verb putsche, butsche or p\u00fctsche referred to the noise made when someone threw a stone at something, fired a gun or gave someone a smack.<\/p>\n \u201cEarly on, the onomatopoeic description of the sound developed into the physical meaning of bumping or colliding,\u201d Landolt said. In 1525 the Zurich Bible translation of Judges 19:22 reads: Do kamend die l\u00fct der statt [\u2026] und umgabend das hu\u00df und putschtend an die t\u00fcr und sprachen zuo dem [\u2026] hu\u00dfwirt: bring den mann h\u00e4ru\u00df, der in din hu\u00df kommen ist! (Then the people of the town came [\u2026] and surrounded the house and beat at the door and said to the [\u2026] landlord: \u201cBring out the man who has come into your house!\u201d)<\/p>\n More sociably, it was also a synonym for clinking glasses and toasting people. Landolt then jumps into the present. \u201cWho doesn\u2019t enjoy riding the Putschauto at fairs, as bumper cars [dodgems] are commonly called in Switzerland?\u201d<\/p>\n A putsch at the funfair. <\/p>\n Keystone <\/p>\n According to the Swiss Idiotikon, from this concrete, physical meaning, a more figurative one developed, specifically in canton Zurich, in the sense of \u201csetting off in fits and starts; rushing towards\u201d. Landolt quotes the sage advice: bim H\u00fcraate mues me n\u00fcd driip\u00fctsche \u2013 which is basically \u201cwhen it comes to marriage, only fools rush in\u201d.<\/p>\n \u2018Foolish emotional impulse\u2019<\/p>\n As for putsch the noun, this has also been a sound caused by a collision, impact, crash or shot \u2013 as well as a violent jolt or blow. Another meaning was a \u201cspecial effort\u201d. The Swiss Idiotikon notes that as early as 1555, the Bernese dramatist Hans von R\u00fcte wrote in a piece on David\u2019s slaying of Goliath that, despite defeating their enemies in one battle, \u201cder putsch ist noch vorhanden (the struggle is not yet over).<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s interesting that the Swiss Idiotikon recognises the word Z\u00fcriputsch in two meanings,\u201d Landolt said. \u201cOn the one hand, in the specific sense referring to the 1839 uprising. And on the other, in a general and by no means flattering sense, namely \u2018a sudden burst of enthusiasm that quickly fades; a rush towards an undertaking\u2019.\u201d He notes that \u201cfrom there it\u2019s not far to the meaning of \u2018popular uprising, revolt\u2019\u201d.<\/p>\n The Swiss Idiotikon cited Anton Klingler, senior pastor at Zurich\u2019s Grossm\u00fcnster cathedral, who in 1702 wrote that many a respectable man \u201chad been plunged into utter misery by a rash, frenzied Zurich-Putsch\u201d.<\/p>\n This sense was popularised by Swiss author Gottfried Keller in his novel Der gr\u00fcne Heinrich (Green Henry), published in 1855. \u201cThe word Putsch comes from the good city of Zurich,\u201d Keller wrote, \u201cwhere a sudden passing rain shower is called a Putsch, and accordingly the jealous neighbouring towns call every foolish emotional impulse, enthusiasm, anger, whim or fashion of the Zurich folk a Z\u00fcriputsch.\u201d<\/p>\n Heard around the world<\/p>\n When it comes to the use of \u201cputsch\u201d in English, Google\u2019s NGram ViewerExternal link<\/a>, which charts the frequency of words in printed sources between 1500 and 2022, shows a tiny blip in the 1830s but it doesn\u2019t really take off until around 1915, with peaks during the Second World War and the so-called August Putsch in the Soviet Union in 1991.<\/p>\n Today, the Swiss-German word can be heard all around the world in languages including Spanish (el putsch), Portuguese (o putsch), Italian (il putsch), French (le putsch) and no doubt many more. Polish tweaks the spelling a bit (pucz), as does Esperanto (la pu\u0109o).<\/p>\n But however you spell it, the good news is that, for the moment, there\u2019s no putsching going on in Switzerland.<\/p>\n Edited by Samuel Jaberg\/gw<\/p>\n \n More<\/p>\n More <\/p>\n Culture\n <\/p>\n English words in German: a linguistic cliffhanger <\/p>\n This content was published on <\/p>\n Dec 1, 2016 <\/p>\n You\u2019re never far from an English word in Switzerland. A linguist explains why \u2013 and whether there will be a backlash. <\/p>\n![\"Bumper](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/595082845_highres_bd2c23.jpg\")
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