gala
UK /ˈɡɑːlə/ · US /ˈɡælə/ adjective, noun, proper noun
Forms galas
- adjective Celebratory; festive.
- noun (uncountable) Pomp, show, or festivity.
- noun A competition. “a swimming gala”
- noun (countable) A showy and festive party.
- noun A red-skinned variety of eating apple.
- noun (historical) A member of an androgynous class of priests of the Sumerian goddess Inanna.
- proper noun (informal) Galashiels, a town in Scotland.
- noun A type of apple, a cross-pollination between Kidd's Orange Red and Golden Delicious.
- proper noun (sports) Galatasaray S.K. (a Turkish sports club best known for its football team)
Synonyms
Etymology
From French gala, or directly from that word's etymon, which is either Italian gala, or Spanish gala, both meaning "festive occasion", and derived from Old French gale (“rejoicing”). (The French word likely kept the final -a to avoid homophony with gale (“scabies”).) Ultimately cognate to gallant and hence probably from Frankish *wala (“good, well”).
Learned borrowing from Sumerian 𒍑𒆪 (gala), related to Akkadian 𒍑𒆪 (kalû). A connection to the similar Phrygian and Roman priests of Cybele called gallae or galli has been suggested, but evidence is lacking.
Clipping of Galashiels.
From Turkish Gala.
Webster’s 1913
Etymology [F. gala show, pomp, fr. It. gala finery, gala; of German origin. See Gallant.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “gala”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details