gadzooks

Where does the word "gadzooks" come from? It comes from English God's hooks, and was adopted directly into English (1690s).

Gadzooks’s story begins in English: God's hooks meant “by God's nails.” An oath by the nails that fixed Christ to the cross; like 'zounds', God's wounds, it was bent out of shape to avoid blasphemy. It reached English by 1690s as gadzooks. 'gad' was a softening of 'God'; by the 1800s it was a mock-old exclamation in historical novels. Today, gadzooks means an old-fashioned exclamation of surprise.

1. Stage 1 · English · 1600s God's hooks "by God's nails", an oath by the nails that fixed Christ to the cross; like 'zounds', God's wounds, it was bent out of shape to avoid blasphemy.
2. Stage 2 · English · 1690s gadzooks "an exclamation", 'gad' was a softening of 'God'; by the 1800s it was a mock-old exclamation in historical novels.