An archaic exclamation expressing surprise or emphasis, a variant of 'goodness sakes' used in Scottish English.
From Scottish 'guid' (good) + 'sakes,' a euphemistic oath. The form evolved from 'God's sakes' as a milder alternative to blasphemy, with 'gud' being the Scottish pronunciation and spelling of 'good.'
This word shows how Scottish English preserved medieval pronunciation patterns while other English dialects changed—'guid' was once how everyone said 'good' in Middle English, but Scotland kept it while southern England shifted the vowel sound.
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