1650s, "a woman's property besides her dowry," from Medieval Latin paraphernalia (short for paraphernalia bona "paraphernal goods"), neuter plural of paraphernalis (adj.), from Late Latin parapherna "a woman's property besides her dowry," from Greek parapherna, neuter plural, from para- "beside" (see para-(1)) + pherne "dowry," related to pherein "to carry" (see infer). Meaning "equipment, apparatus" is first attested 1791, from notion of odds and ends.