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ArchivesNoble or Tarnished?
My name is Audrey and from day one I have found listings that described my name as meaning Tawdry, some even said that in England it was used to describe prostitutes. I am now in an argument with a lady who insists that I am wrong and it simply comes from the meaning Noble. Do you know of any other source that says it means Tawdry? Please settle this for me.
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I found this on another site
The word tawdry is one of the classic Interesting Etymology stories.
The main sense of tawdry, dating from the seventeenth century, is 'showy and cheap; gaudy'. This sense is a derivation of the earlier noun, meaning 'lace worn by women about the throat'--a common fashion accessory in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries--itself a shortening of the mid-sixteenth-century tawdry lace.
This tawdry lace is short for Saint Audrey lace. Saint Audrey was a queen of Northumbria and the patron saint of Ely who died in A.D. 679; her name in Old English was Aethelthryth. According to tradition, Audrey died of a throat tumor, which she considered just punishment for her youthful fondness for showy necklaces. Thus, Saint Audrey lace. (The lace was sold at an annual fair commemorating St. Audrey's in Ely, which probably strengthend the association.)
The word tawdry is one of the classic Interesting Etymology stories.
The main sense of tawdry, dating from the seventeenth century, is 'showy and cheap; gaudy'. This sense is a derivation of the earlier noun, meaning 'lace worn by women about the throat'--a common fashion accessory in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries--itself a shortening of the mid-sixteenth-century tawdry lace.
This tawdry lace is short for Saint Audrey lace. Saint Audrey was a queen of Northumbria and the patron saint of Ely who died in A.D. 679; her name in Old English was Aethelthryth. According to tradition, Audrey died of a throat tumor, which she considered just punishment for her youthful fondness for showy necklaces. Thus, Saint Audrey lace. (The lace was sold at an annual fair commemorating St. Audrey's in Ely, which probably strengthend the association.)
This message was edited 7/27/2005, 2:48 PM
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