英语词汇tawdry的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

tawdry. Anglo-Saxon princess Aethelthryth seems to have spent her married life trying to preserve her chastity. Daughter of the king of East Anglia, she protected her virginity through two unwanted marriages that her father had arranged for politi- cal reasons, keeping the promise she made as a girl that she would dedicate her life to God. The pious princess carried but one sin on her conscience: in her youth she had loved wearing golden chains and necklaces, and she believed that the cancer of the throat that she died of in 679 had been caused by this worldly vanity. In Norman times Aethelthryth’s name was shortened to Audrey and she was finally canonized as St. Audrey. It became the custom to hold fairs on the Isle of Ely on St. Audrey’s Day, October 17, and the souvenirs sold at these fairs included lace scarves and golden necklaces that were called St. Audrey’s laces. This merchandise, at first treasured ar- ticles, declined in quality until it became known as cheap and showy. Shouted by hucksters as St. Audrey’s lace, it was soon clipped in speech to “Sin t’Audrey lace” and eventually to taw- dry lace. All the gaudy, worthless objects like it were sold as tawdry, too, and by the 18th century the word had come to mean anything cheap and tasteless, showy tinsel.

词汇	tawdry
词源	tawdry. Anglo-Saxon princess Aethelthryth seems to have spent her married life trying to preserve her chastity. Daughter of the king of East Anglia, she protected her virginity through two unwanted marriages that her father had arranged for politi- cal reasons, keeping the promise she made as a girl that she would dedicate her life to God. The pious princess carried but one sin on her conscience: in her youth she had loved wearing golden chains and necklaces, and she believed that the cancer of the throat that she died of in 679 had been caused by this worldly vanity. In Norman times Aethelthryth’s name was shortened to Audrey and she was finally canonized as St. Audrey. It became the custom to hold fairs on the Isle of Ely on St. Audrey’s Day, October 17, and the souvenirs sold at these fairs included lace scarves and golden necklaces that were called St. Audrey’s laces. This merchandise, at first treasured ar- ticles, declined in quality until it became known as cheap and showy. Shouted by hucksters as St. Audrey’s lace, it was soon clipped in speech to “Sin t’Audrey lace” and eventually to taw- dry lace. All the gaudy, worthless objects like it were sold as tawdry, too, and by the 18th century the word had come to mean anything cheap and tasteless, showy tinsel.
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