One way to hold this word: the pile of small things that sits beside the main thing. Not the dowry, but everything she also brought with her. Not the tea, but the kettle, the cups, the strainer and the tin. The word never points at one object; it points at a heap.
可以想成：正事旁邊那一大堆附帶的東西。不是嫁妝本身，是嫁妝旁邊她也帶來的那些；不是茶，是壺、杯、濾網和茶罐。這個字從來不指單獨一樣，它指的是「一整堆」這個畫面。也因為這樣，它天生帶著複數的感覺，而且常常附帶一句「怎麼這麼多」。
From the word’s history
The Latin word was built from Greek pará, beside, and phernḗ, dowry: the goods that stood beside the dowry. Beside the main thing is still the shape of the modern word.
拉丁文 paraphernalia 由希臘文 pará（在旁邊）和 phernḗ（嫁妝）組成，指「嫁妝旁邊的那些東西」。「在正事旁邊」這個形狀，今天還留在這個字裡。
Wiktionary, "paraphernalia"
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