Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/lada

From *ladъ (“order, harmony”) +‎ *-a with meaning shift:

• Šanskij: “the one who made an agreement” > “spouse”
• Sławski: like in German Gatte (“spouse”), Middle High German gegate (“partner, spouse”) : German gätlich (“suitable”) Middle High German gigat (“to coincide; to correspond”) (see Proto-Germanic *gadilingaz)

Less likely related to Lycian 𐊍𐊀𐊅𐊀 (lada, “wife”).

*lada f or m[1]

1. wife; female consort, female lover?
2. (East Slavic) husband; male consort, male lover?
3. (music) element of folk song refrains (as vocative), possibly with no meaning

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: ла́да (láda), ла́до (ládo, “husband”)
    • Old Ruthenian: ла́до (ládo), ла́да (láda, “dear, sweet, beloved”)
      • Ukrainian: (dialectal) ла́до m or n (ládo, “husband, spouse, beloved”), ла́до (ládo, “pet name”), ла́до (ládo, “refrain/chant”)
    • Russian: (dialectal) ла́да f (láda, “agreement, amicable transaction; term, contract”), ла́да f or m (láda, “husband, wife”), ла́да (láda, “someone beloved, usually child”), ла́до (ládo, “partner, husband”)
• South Slavic:
  • Church Slavonic ладо n (lado, “beloved (male or female)”)
  • Bulgarian: ла́да (láda, “girl in a wedding custom ладу́ване (ladúvane); refrain/chant”)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic: ла̏да (“wife; refrain/chant”) (obsolete)

    Latin: lȁda (“wife; refrain/chant”) (obsolete)

  • Slovene: lada (“refrain/chant”)
• West Slavic:
  • Old Czech: lada (“beloved, maiden, girl”)
  • Old Polish: *łada, łado (vocative), Łada (proper noun)
    • ⇒ Old Polish: Ładzic (proper noun)
    • Polish: (Middle Polish) łado (vocative)
    • → Latin: Lada (“Polish pseudogoddess”)
  • Slovak: lada (“harlot”), lado
  • Sorbian:
    • Upper Sorbian: lado (“an insulting name for an ugly, shabby woman”)

• Non-Slavic:
  • → Lithuanian: lado (refrain)

Some languages have preserved this word only in the form of a vocative (lado), often only in the refrains of folk songs. This word, used in songs, often formed the basis for derivations with the meaning “to sing”.

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), “ла́да”, in Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), transl. and suppl. by Oleg Trubachyov, Moscow: Progress
• Franciszek Sławski (1970-1974), “łado!, łado łado!”, in Jan Safarewicz, Andrzej Siudut, editors, Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego [Etymological dictionary of the Polish language] (in Polish), volume IV: La—Łapucha, Kraków: Towarzystwo Miłośników Języka Polskiego, page 419
• Melnychuk, O. S., editor (1982–2012), “ладо”, in Етимологічний словник української мови [Etymological Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language] (in Ukrainian), Kyiv: Naukova Dumka
• Šanskij, N. M. (2004), “лада”, in Školʹnyj etimologičeskij slovarʹ russkovo jazyka [School Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Drofa
• Šanskij, N. M; Bobrova T. A. (2004), “лада”, in Школьный этимологический словарь русского языка. Происхождение слов (in Russian), Дрофа