different between assortments vs miscellaneum

English

Noun

assortments

1. plural of assortment

English

Etymology

Perhaps by back-formation from miscellanea, in accordance with the -um ? -a rule of plural formation of neuter nouns in the nominative case from the Latin second declension.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?m?s??le?n??m/

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, 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, whereas miscellanea is around six hundred times more common than miscellaneum; in re plural forms, the Anglicised miscellaneums is well over a hundred thousand times rarer than miscellanea and over eighteen thousand times rarer than miscellanies.

References

Latin

Adjective

miscell?neum

1. nominative neuter singular of miscell?neus