parapherna

Forms

părăpherna n pl (genitive părăphernōrum); second declension^[1] The TLL also notes a genitive paraphernarum, of the first declension, and Köbler a spelling parapharna.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek παράφερνα (parápherna),^[1][3][2] which Etymonline explains as formed from παρα- (para-, “beside”) and φερνή (phernḗ, “dowry”), a word related to φέρω (phérō, “to carry”).^[4] Köbler traces the second element to Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to carry, bring”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Ulpian (before 223 AD)^[3] uses it in a passage of the Digest that sets the things given as dowry against those “which the Greeks call parapherna”.^[2][1]

Semantic evolution

It remained a technical term of Roman law for the property a married woman held apart from her dowry.^[2][1] An imperial ruling of 450 in the Code of Justinian explains it in the same way, as the things a wife has outside the dowry, which the Greeks call parapherna, and deals with the husband's part in them.^[2]

From it Medieval Latin formed the adjective paraphernalis, whose neuter plural paraphernalia became an English word.^[4][3]

Timeline

• before 223 AD – Ulpian, quoted in the Digest, names parapherna as the wife's goods outside the dowry.^[2][3]
• 450 AD – A ruling preserved in the Code of Justinian defines parapherna as the wife's goods outside the dowry.^[2]
• 533 AD – The Digest is published with Ulpian's passage.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (law) The separate property of a married woman, the goods she holds besides her dowry.^[1][2][3]

Related words

• paraphernalis
• English paraphernalia

Usage notes

The Digest and the Code of Justinian present it as a Greek term, “what the Greeks call parapherna”, and in the Digest Ulpian writes it in Greek letters.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com