gatherum

Gatherum is a rarely used English noun that denotes a collection or assortment of items that have been gathered together. In older or more literary texts, gatherum can refer to a miscellany, anthology, or compilation, especially when the items are not organized into a formal or systematic arrangement. The term is not common in contemporary formal writing and is typically encountered in historical dictionaries, archaisms, or as a stylistic flourish.

Origins and usage notes are not well documented. It appears to be derived from the verb gather, with the suffix -um forming a neuter noun, but it is not a standard or widely attested derivation in modern lexicography. In practice, gatherum tends to appear to describe a loose aggregation rather than a curated collection.

In contemporary writing, gatherum may be used humorously or nostalgically to evoke antiquity or a rustic speaker’s voice. Phrases such as “a gatherum of trinkets” or “a gatherum of notes” signal a miscellaneous pile rather than a structured catalog. It is not a term used in formal taxonomy, bibliography, or museum and herbarium practice, where more precise terms such as collection, miscellany, or archive are preferred.

See also: miscellany, anthology, compilation, collection, herbarium.