What is the singular form of the word "paraphernalia"?

I meant the singular or plural form of the word, depending on if paraphernalia is singular or plural.

Both Chambers and Longmans dictionaries indicate that paraphernalia is a plural word. Since it means "a number of items" it's difficult to see how there could be a singular form - referring to a single item as paraphernalia seems to contradict the essence of the word.

Nevertheless, the aforementioned Chambers states that the same word, paraphernalia, can be used in the singular.

http://www.chambersharrap.co.uk/chambers/features/chref/chref.py/main?query=paraphernalia&title=21st
http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/paraphernalia

A paraphenalia is one collection of items, so presumably different people will have their own paraphenalias...

Paraphenalia literally means a married woman's personal property, exclusive of her dowry. [Medieval Latin paraphernlia, neuter pl. of paraphernlis, pertaining to the parapherna, a married woman's property exclusive of her dowry, from Greek : para-, beyond; see para-1 + phern, dowry; see bher-1 in Indo-European roots.]
So in the Latin, it is a plural and the singular is paraphernlis but I have seen the word paraphenalium floating around -- but I think it's made up, like a backronym.