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Definition 2024


miscellaneum

miscellaneum

English

Noun

miscellaneum (plural miscellanea)

  1. (rare, chiefly archaic) A miscellany.
    • 1652: Samuel Hartlib, Cornu Copia : A Miscellaneum of lucriferous and most fructiferous Experiments, Observations, and Discoveries, immethodically distributed ; to be really demonstrated and communicated in all Sincerity., book title (Harleian Miscellany, volume VI, pages 27–36)
      Cornu Copia : A Miscellaneum of lucriferous and most fructiferous Experiments, Observations, and Discoveries, immethodically distributed ; to be really demonstrated and communicated in all Sincerity.
    • 1851: The Musical World, page 129
      The second part was devoted to a miscellaneum. It commenced with a reference to the interdiction of stage entertainment in the time of the Protectorate.
    • 1999: Housman Society, Housman Society Journal, page 87 (Turner & Devereux)
      Aside from those cited in this miscellaneum, other copies are to be seen at Bryn Mawr (inscribed by Kennerley to R. W. Ellis); Southern Illinois University, Carbondale; and private collection 1.
    • 2004: Shlomo Berger, Michael Brocke, and Irene E Zwiep, Zutot 2003, page 28 (Springer; ISBN 1402026277, 978-1402026270)
      In this miscellaneum I would like to describe a medieval translation of Keter Malkhut which, to the best of my knowledge, has not been noted anywhere in scholarly literature.

Usage notes

  • Miscellanea is almost universally treated as a plurale tantum in English, consequently, the singular form miscellaneum is liable to cause confusion:
    1. As miscellanea means, in the usual sense, “a miscellaneous collection of different things”, a single miscellaneum is logically impossible because variety and diversity (in their usual senses) are attributes of groups of things, not of individual things; for example, a populace can be varied and diverse, but a person cannot be various or diverse.
    2. Miscellanea will usually be taken to mean “a single miscellany”, not several assortments.
  • In common usage, miscellany is over seven hundred times more common than miscellaneum[1], whereas miscellanea is around six hundred times more common than miscellaneum[2]; in re plural forms, the Anglicised miscellaneums is well over a hundred thousand times rarer than miscellanea[3] and over eighteen thousand times rarer than miscellanies[4].

References

  1. GoogleFight: miscellany vs. miscellaneum
  2. GoogleFight: miscellanea vs. miscellaneum
  3. GoogleFight: miscellanea vs. miscellaneums
  4. GoogleFight: miscellanies vs. miscellaneums

Latin

Adjective

miscellāneum

  1. nominative neuter singular of miscellāneus