English

Noun

gads

1. plural of gad

Verb

gads

1. third-person singular simple present indicative form of gad

Anagrams

• S.D. Ga.

Latvian

Etymology

From Proto-Baltic *gad-, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰodhʰ-, o-grade of *gʰed- “to unify, to match” (whence also gadīties, q.v.). The semantic evolution of the term probably went from “matching, appropriate” > “appropriate, determined, specific time (period)” > “(church) holiday” > “sequence of church holidays in a year” > “year.” Since this evolution parallels that of Russian год ‎(god), there may also have been Russian influence on the meaning changes of Latvian gads. Cognates include Lithuanian gadýnė (< Belarusian година ‎(hodúna)) “time, period,” Old Church Slavonic годъ ‎(godŭ) “suitable time; holiday; year,” Russian, Belarusian год ‎(god) “year,” Upper Sorbian hod, hody “winter holidays,” Czech hod “church holiday,” Polish gody “wedding feast, wedding,” Serbo-Croatian gȏd “name day, important holiday.”^[1]

Noun

gads m (1st declension)

1. year

Declension

Derived terms

• gadsimts
• nākamgad, nākošgad, šogad, togad

References

1. ↑ Karulis, Konstantīns (1992), “gads”, in Latviešu Etimoloģijas Vārdnīca (in Latvian), Rīga: AVOTS, ISBN 9984-700-12-7