"aquatic entertainment," 1937, American English, from aqua- + ending abstracted from cavalcade (q.v.).
Entries linking to aquacade
aqua-
word-forming element meaning "water," from Latin aqua "water; the sea; rain," cognate with Proto-Germanic *akhwo (source of Old English ea "river," Gothic ahua "river, waters," Old Norse Ægir, name of the sea-god, Old English ieg "island"), from PIE root *akwa- "water."
cavalcade n.
"a procession, a train of persons on horseback or in carriages," 1640s, via French cavalcade (15c.), from Italian cavalcata, from cavalcare "to ride on horseback," from Vulgar Latin *caballicare (also source of Spanish cabalgada, Portuguese cavalgata), from Latin caballus (see cavalier (n.)).
Literally, "a procession on horseback;" the general sense of "a procession" of any sort is from 1660s; in 20c. -cade came to be regarded as a suffix and rode off on its own to form motorcade (1909), etc. The word's earliest use in English was in the now-obsolete sense "a horseback ride" (1590s).