Miscellaneous - Miscellany

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Miscellaneous is one of the 117 mis-spellings listed as 'Common difficulties' in the section on 'Spelling' within 'Writing' in UEfAP.

The noun miscellany and its related adjective miscellaneous are spelled thus, with the second (sibilant) consonant written -sc-, a double '-l-', and a single '-n-'.

  • In British RP, the noun is pronounced (and has been, since the start of the twentieth century) with the stress on the second syllable, 'mis-SELL-ern-i', IPA: /mɪs ˈɛl ən ɪ/; in American GA, the primary stress is on the first syllable, with a secondary stress on the third, in which the vowel is realized as a diphthong: 'MISS-ell-ain-i', /ˈmɪs əl ˌeɪn ɪ/. Both varieties pronounce the adjective as 'miss-ell-AIN-i-us', /mɪs əl ˈeɪn ɪ əs/.
Etymological note: miscellany and miscellaneous are ultimately derived from the Latin verb miscēre 'to mix', with the addition of a diminutive -ellus and an adjectival suffix -āneus 'of the nature of'. So miscellany can be construed etymologically as 'a small mixture', or more idiomatically 'a mixture of things of different kinds'; a 'rag-bag' or 'hotch-potch; 'a job lot'. In literature, this was " A book, volume, or literary production containing miscellaneous pieces on various subjects" (OED). Miscellaneous means 'of various kinds'.
You may come across the word miscellanea in older academic texts (pronounced similarly to 'miscellaneous', with a primary stress on the third syllable diphthong and a secondary stress on the first syllable: 'mis-sell-AIN-i-a', IPA: /ˌmɪs əl ˈeɪn ɪ ə/). This is the neuter plural of the Latin miscellaneus, and means 'a collection of different things'. It was commonly used as the title for collections of written texts. It was sometimes used by bookbinders as the title of a collection of smaller texts, such as tracts or pamphlets, bound together in one volume. See also miscellanea. A miscellanist was the name given to a writer who produced such collections, or wrote a literary Miscellany.