Which came first: gaudy, or Gaudi?

[samclem]

@jsolpar688

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”

<snip>

So here you have been explained how there’s really a connetction between “Gaudy” and “Gaudí” but an indirect way.

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.”