Entry tags:
Tawdry
"cheap, showy, gaudy," 1676, adjective use of noun tawdry "silk necktie for women" (1612), shortened from tawdry lace (1548), an alteration of St. Audrey's lace, a necktie or ribbon sold at the annual fair at Ely on October 17 commemorating St. Audrey (queen of Northumbria, died 679), whose name was worn down from Old English Æðelðryð "noble might," from æðele "noble" (from Proto-Germanic *athala-, from Proto-Indo-European *at-al- "race, family," from *at(i)- "over, beyond, super" + *al- "to nourish") + ðryð "might." Her association with cheap lace necklaces is that she supposedly died of a throat tumor, which she considered God's punishment for her youthful fondness for showy necklaces [Bede].
From Wikipedia:
The common version of Æthelthryth's name was St Awdrey, the origin of the word tawdry. Her admirers bought modestly concealing lace goods at an annual fair held in her name in Ely. As years passed, this lacework came to be seen as old-fashioned or cheap and poor quality goods. This was particularly so in the 17th-c. when some Puritans in eastern England looked down on any form of lacy dressiness.
From Wikipedia:
The common version of Æthelthryth's name was St Awdrey, the origin of the word tawdry. Her admirers bought modestly concealing lace goods at an annual fair held in her name in Ely. As years passed, this lacework came to be seen as old-fashioned or cheap and poor quality goods. This was particularly so in the 17th-c. when some Puritans in eastern England looked down on any form of lacy dressiness.
