Etymologically
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parapherna

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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]

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