Today, we use the adjective “gaudy” to describe something excessively showy or ornate, lacking in taste  Ralph , you’ve been to Barcelona, you must have seen some of the buildings designed by Spain's most famous architect, Antoni Gaudi. 

 

I certainly did; you can’t miss them!

 

Because many people find Gaudi’s work overly ornate and lacking in taste, one might assume that the adjective, gaudy, derives from his last name.

 

But In fact, the word "gaud" derives from the Latin word gaudēre, to rejoice, and it originally referred to any of the fifteen beads on a rosary, a counting device used by devout Catholics when meditating on the fifteen mysteries of Christ. 

 

As rosary beads became more ornate, the word "gaud" came to refer, in a positive sense,  to any ornate or brightly colored object 

 

And that’s how Egeus is using it when referring to the ornate gifts he is accusing Lysander to have used in order to seduce his daughter.

 

It was only in modern times that gaudy took on its negative connotation; and the fact that it's pronounced exactly the same as the Spanish architect’s last name is just one of life’s funny coincidences.