Rachel from Ashland, Virginia, wonders about the origin of paraphernalia, or “items belonging to a particular person or used for a particular activity.” In ancient Greece, the pherna was a bride’s dowry, and the parapherna was her additional personal property. The Greek root para- means “beside,” as in paramilitary, “a group existing beside the military,” and parasite, something that “eats food beside you.” Romans adopted the word as paraphernalia, which eventually found its way into English and Scottish Common law as a term for “the personal belongings of a wife,” such as clothing, jewelry. Over time, paraphernalia came to denote “any personal belongings” or “items used for a particular activity,” such as drug paraphernalia. This is part of a complete episode.
More from this show
After our conversation about towns with extremely short names, many listeners wrote to tell us about Why, Arizona. Others pointed out that there are towns called Ely in Iowa, Minnesota, and Nevada. Other super-short appellations include Rye, New...
Debbie from Crawfordsville, Florida, says that when she and her husband reach an impasse while working on something, they’ll say Let’s grok about it, which they use to mean “Let’s think about it.” Grok was coined by...