If not a burning question, a sparkly one:
Does anyone know if the adjective “gaudy” (adj: Too highly ornamented to be in good taste; syns: tacky, chintzy, tawdry) was derived from the wickedly bespangled works of Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi?
Personally, I’m a big Gaudi fan, and don’t find his work gaudy at all. But you’ve got to admit, his work does bear a certain relation to the definition above. [It’s true: these things keep me up at night.]
From: http://www.takeourword.com/Issue055.html
The erroneous explanation is that the term comes from the name of the Spanish architect Antonio Gaudi (1852-1926), whose architecture some believe today is gaudy. This suggestion can be discounted by virtue of the fact that gaudy dates back to the 16th century.
Rufus, you rock. I’m glad to (a) have the answer, and (b) learn that I’m not the only cake-head wondering about the connection. Thanks!
Besides which, the architect’s name is pronounced “gowdy.”
Not really. The correct pronunciation is: [gaudi’].
I’m from Lleida (Catalonia). Catalan is my mother tongue. So I really know it.
It is not that “Gaudy” comes from the Catalan surname “Gaudí” but both words come from the same Latin word “Gaudēre” that means “to joy” or “to enjoy”, "to rejoice” or “be merry”…
“Gaudy” most likely comes from the ancient English word “gaud” that comes from the French “Gaudir” which, like the Latin word where it comes from, (“Gaudēre”), means “to joy” or “to enjoy”, "to rejoice” or “be merry”
We can also find the word “Gaudir” in the Catalan language having the same mentioned meaning and the same Latin origin as its French equivalent.
Derived from the Catalan verb “Gaudir” we find the Middle Age noun word “Gaudí”. A “Gaudí” was anyone who, even thou he was not a cavalier, militiaman, honourable citizen, or titled noble, could enjoy [“gaudir”] (that means; to have) the privileges of the military class due to his job or status [See “gaudí” entry in the official Catalan language dictionary at http://www.diccionari.cat/lexicx.jsp?GECART=0069107 ].
In the Middle Age people started to be differentiated one from the others by their job (like “Smith” or “Herrero” in Spanish), origin (like “Oxford” or “Toledo”), condition (like “Bald” or “Calvo” in Spanish ), or status (like “Cavalier” or the one that occupies us; “Gaudí”), etc. That was the origins of the surnames and the origin of our famous catalan architect Antoni Gaudí’s surname.
So here you have been explained how there’s really a connetction between “Gaudy” and “Gaudí” but an indirect way.
<snip>
While I appreciate your additions to this thread, the Oxford English Dictionary would slightly disagree with you.
The Latin word was indeed gaudere, which morphed into Anglo French gaudir. The OED then says about gaud “perhaps an Anglo-Norman noun” from gaudir<gaudere." Note that the earliest meaning of gaud were “A trick, prank; often, a device to deceive, a piece of trickery, a pretence; also a game, sport, or pastime.”
The noun gaud shows up by 1386(Chaucer), but the adjective “gaudy” doesn’t appear until 1529, where it still means “trick.”
I’m looking hard, but can’t quite see the application of Gaudere’s Law here. Too tricky, I guess.
How about the following?
I think you mean [gaudˈi]—in IPA transcriptions, stress marks come before the syllable, not after.
At a tangent, there is also the Oxford gaudy, or feast in its mediaeval colleges, as in Dorothy L. Sayers’s story Gaudy Night.
If it’s before the syllable then it’s [gauˈdi]. The two sillables are gau and di, not gaud and i. If it’s before the phoneme then it’s as you wrote it.
Benvingut, jsolpar688. This thread is what we call “a zombie”, it’s several years old. Since you just joined us, you’re not familiar with the many and frequent discussions on pronunciation: when lissener transcribed Gaudí’s name as “gowdy” back in 2004, he may actually have been pronouncing it right.
Very good! But you’re supposed to leave yet another error in your correction so that the next poster has something to correct. 
You could always which exact subvariant of each phoneme are we talking about… 
My recollection is that that use of gaudy goes back to a Latin phrase gaudeamus igitur which means, “So let us rejoice” according to Wiki.
Well, probably only indirectly, in that both come from the Latin verb gaudere, to rejoice or celebrate.
“Gaudy” in the sense of a college feast probably comes from gaudium, a thing which is to be celebrated, and was originally applied to feasts held to commemorate a significant event or personage in the history of the college.
And, for completeness, there’s also Gaudete Sunday, the third Sunday in Advent, when Advent ascetic practices were traditionally relaxed for the day, and the priest wore (and indeed still wears) rose-coloured vestments, instead of purple. The name comes from the opening lines of the introductory verse prescribed for Mass on that day:
Gaudete in Domino semper: iterum dico, gaudete. (“Rejoice in the Lord always: I say again, rejoice.”)