Origin of the Word “Paraphernalia”

Hello, welcome to Aware With Words.

Hi, this is Rachel from Ashburn, Virginia.

Hi, Rachel. How are you doing?

I’m good. How are you?

We’re great. What’s on your mind?

My mom, who was a school teacher, was very educated and a very smart lady. And she was kind of known in our family for using very unique words for things that most people wouldn’t use. And not only that, she would often make up expressions and even words sometimes. And my siblings and I joke now about how hard it was for us to tell which words and expressions were real or which ones were made up of hers.

So before I get to my main question, just to give you an example of one of her made up words, one was occupiance or occupiances. And that just meant something to keep you busy or occupied. So if growing up, if we were getting ready to go on a big road trip or if she had to take us to a, you know, long boring church meeting or something, it was very common for her to say, you know, time to go grab your occupiances, meaning a book or the Game Boy or something.

Yeah, nice. And that’s one word that was made up that I believed was real for the longest time. But my question, however, is about a real word that I thought was fake until I was in high school that she would say. That word is paraphernalia. And she would use that word regularly, usually in reference to clutter or messes in the house. So she would say, hey, Rachel, go pick up all your paraphernalia up off the stairs, or there’s all kinds of paraphernalia in here. And to young me, that was kind of weird sounding. So I just assumed she might have well have been saying, go get your doohickeys off the stairs, or let’s clean up all these thingamabobs. Time to clean up all this paraphernalia.

Yeah, that could totally be a fake word.

Right.

That’s what I thought, too. It just seemed like another one of those kind of silly filler words. And so one year in high school, the principal was making an announcement over the PA system about how police dogs were coming in that week to sniff the lockers for drugs and, you guessed it, drug paraphernalia. And I was shocked. I didn’t realize that anyone used this word besides my mom. I’m sure I didn’t react in that moment. But later I came home and chatted with her and looked it up and realized that, yes, this is a real-life word that more people than my mom used. And we still kind of joke about it today.

So I guess my question is, what can you teach me about this word? Because, I mean, to this day it still seems kind of such a long and ridiculous word with such a simple meaning, which I believe it just means things or stuff. Maybe you can shed more nuances or a more sophisticated definition. But anyway, just anything about the etymology or why it is the way it is, I would love to learn.

Rachel, let me tell you right now, Martha is literally on the edge of her seat. I think she’s frothing at the mouth.

Oh, good. This word has a really interesting history. Martha’s got the whole story. I’m so excited.

When we take the word paraphernalia, we get to go all the way back to ancient Greece and ancient Rome. Because in ancient Greece, the ferna, P-H-E-R-N-A, was a bride’s dowry. It was the money or property that she brings to her husband in marriage. So the ferna was the dowry and the parapherna was the other property that she brought along with her. You know, her own stuff, clothing and jewelry. So you have the word ferna, meaning dowry, and then you have the word para, the little preposition there at the front, which means beside, you know, like paramilitary or a parasite is something that eats food alongside you.

And so this influenced Roman law where paraphernalia was, again, the articles of property that were held by a wife beyond the dowry that she brought to the marriage. And this influenced English and Scottish common law, where paraphernalia referred to purely personal belongings of the wife, like her clothing and jewelry and mementos and things like that. And back then, the husband owned those things legally, but the wife had free use of them, and that was her paraphernalia.

And then by the 18th century, the word sort of morphed from this sense of a wife’s purely personal belongings to the purely personal belongings of anybody or the belongings that somebody used to engage in a particular activity. And then it wasn’t until the early 20th century that people started using the word to apply also to the belongings or the little doodads that you use to smoke opium. And then it became used in terms of drug paraphernalia as well.

Wow. I never would have guessed there was such a history behind that word.

Yeah, so from dowry to drugs. And interestingly, the word paraphernalia kept its shape and form throughout all those long centuries.

Right, Martha?

Right. Once the para and paraphernalia were added together, the spelling didn’t change.

Yeah, but you’re right, Rachel. I mean, it’s weird that it’s such a long word for, you know, little bits and bobs.

Right, right. That’s what I was thinking. And it seems like it’s really only used in reference to drugs. And maybe I feel like I’ve heard it in reference to swag or merch for sports teams or universities.

Maybe. But you don’t hear it very often for anything besides drugs, from what I’ve noticed.

Yeah, I get this mental picture of gathering up your stuff and putting it in a container and walking out with it or something.

Yeah, usually I see uses of it where it’s kind of a class of items, like drug paraphernalia stuff pertaining to drugs or office paraphernalia stuff related to an office or class paraphernalia, classroom paraphernalia. It’s not so much miscellaneous as it’s miscellaneous of a type, if that makes sense.

Yeah, all the accoutrements, all the things that go with whatever your activity is, I guess.

Yeah, that makes sense with how my mom uses it. When growing up, she would say, go pick up all your paraphernalia. So I guess all the things regarding to Rachel and everything about me, all of my notes that I left everywhere, that is my paraphernalia that I got to go pick up.

Your Rachelnerlia.

Yeah.

Yes.

Rachel, thank you so much for your call. We really appreciate it.

Oh, thank you. Thrilled to speak with you and thank you for everything you do on the show. I appreciate it.

Our pleasure. Thanks a lot. Be well. Take care. Bye-bye.

Thanks, Rachel. Bye-bye.

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