Laudator Temporis Acti

Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights praef. 2 (tr. J.C. Rolfe):

But in the arrangement of my material I have adopted the same haphazard order that I had previously followed in collecting it. For whenever I had taken in hand any Greek or Latin book, or had heard anything worth remembering, I used to jot down whatever took my fancy, of any and every kind, without any definite plan or order; and such notes I would lay away as an aid to my memory, like a kind of literary storehouse, so that when the need arose of a word or a subject which I chanced for the moment to have forgotten, and the books from which I had taken it were not at hand, I could readily find and produce it.

usi autem sumus ordine rerum fortuito, quem antea in excerpendo feceramus. nam proinde ut librum quemque in manus ceperam seu Graecum seu Latinum vel quid memoratu dignum audieram, ita quae libitum erat, cuius generis cumque erant, indistincte atque promisce annotabam eaque mihi ad subsidium memoriae quasi quoddam litterarum penus recondebam, ut quando usus venisset aut rei aut verbi, cuius me repens forte oblivio tenuisset, et libri ex quibus ea sumpseram non adessent, facile inde nobis inventu atque depromptu foret.

Id. 5-9:

[5] For since they had laboriously gathered varied, manifold, and as it were indiscriminate learning, they therefore invented ingenious titles also, to correspond with that idea. [6] Thus some called their books "The Muses," others "Woods",​ one used the title "Athena's Mantle," another "The Horn of Amaltheia," still another "Honeycomb," several "Meads," one "Fruits of my Reading," another "Gleanings from Early Writers," another "The Nosegay," still another "Discoveries." [7] Some have used the name "Torches," others "Tapestry," others "Repertory," others "Helicon," "Problems," "Handbooks" and "Daggers." [8] One man called his book "Memorabilia," one "Principia," one "Incidentals,", another "Instructions." Other titles are "Natural History," "Universal History," "The Field," "The Fruit-basket," or "Topics." [9] Many have termed their notes "Miscellanies," some "Moral Epistles," "Questions in Epistolary Form," or "Miscellaneous Queries," and there are some other titles that are exceedingly witty and redolent of extreme refinement.​

[5] nam quia variam et miscellam et quasi confusaneam doctrinam conquisiverant, eo titulos quoque ad eam sententiam exquisitissimos indiderunt. [6] namque alii Musarum inscripserunt, alii Silvarum, ille Πέπλον, alius Ἀμαλθείας Κέρας, alius Κηρία, partim Λειμῶνας, quidam Lectionis Suae, alius Antiquarum Lectionum atque alius Ἀνθηρῶν et item alius Εὑρημάτων. [7] sunt etiam qui Λύχνους inscripserint, sunt item qui Στρωματεῖς, sunt adeo qui Πανδέκτας et Ἐλικῶνα et Προβλήματα et Ἐγχειρίδια et Παραξιφίδας. [8] est qui Memoriales titulum fecerit, est qui Πραγματικὰ et Πάρεργα et Διδασκαλικά, est item qui Historiae Naturalis, et​ Παντοδαπῆς Ἱστορίας, est praeterea qui Pratum, est itidem qui Πάγκαρπον, est qui Τόπων scripserit; [9] sunt item multi qui Coniectanea, neque item non sunt qui indices libris suis fecerint aut Epistularum Moralium aut Epistolicarum Quaestionum aut Confusarum et quaedam alia inscripta nimis lepida multasque prorsum concinnitates redolentia.

Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies 6.2.1, pp. 422-423 Stählin (tr. J.M.F. Heath):

So just as in the meadow the flowers blossom in variety and in the paradise garden the planting of the trees that produce fruits on their top branches does not have each of the different species separated according to its kind (the way also some people, picking out blossoms in variety, put together in written form Meadows and Helicons and Honeycombs and Mantles, compilations that delight in learning), the form of our Stromateis has been variegated like a meadow with the things that came by chance to my memory, and that have not been thoroughly purified either by arrangement or by diction, deliberately scattered pell-mell.

ἐν μὲν οὖν τῷ λειμῶνι τὰ ἄνθη ποικίλως ἀνθοῦντα κἀν τῷ παραδείσῳ ἡ τῶν ἀκροδρύων φυτεία οὐ κατὰ εἶδος ἕκαστον κεχώρισται τῶν ἀλλογενῶν (ᾗ καὶ Λειμῶνάς τινες καὶ Ἑλικῶνας καὶ Κηρία καὶ Πέπλους συναγωγὰς φιλομαθεῖς ποικίλως ἐξανθισάμενοι συνεγράψαντο)· τοῖς δ´ ὡς ἔτυχεν ἐπὶ μνήμην ἐλθοῦσι καὶ μήτε τῇ τάξει μήτε τῇ φράσει διακεκαθαρμένοις, διεσπαρμένοις δὲ ἐπίτηδες ἀναμίξ, ἡ τῶν Στρωματέων ἡμῖν ὑποτύπωσις λειμῶνος δίκην πεποίκιλται. καὶ δὴ ὧδε ἔχοντες ἐμοί τε ὑπομνήματα εἶεν ἂν ζώπυρα, τῷ τε εἰς γνῶσιν ἐπιτηδείῳ, εἴ πως περιτύχοι τοῖσδε, πρὸς τὸ συμφέρον καὶ ὠφέλιμον μετὰ ἱδρῶτος ἡ ζήτησις γενήσεται.

Many words meaning "miscellany" are etymologically related to food. The Spanish expression olla podrida and its French equivalent pot pourri, translated literally, mean "rotten pot," a kind of stew composed of whatever ingredients are at hand. Metaphorically, they mean any disorganized collection. The word pot is also hidden in English hodge podge, a variant of which is hotch potch, originally hotch pot. In Latin, a lanx satura (whence our satire) means "full platter," and Italian salmagundi is a salad made of various ingredients. Italian pasticcio ("medley," "pastry cake," from pasta) is also behind our pastiche. Gallimaufry comes from French galimafrée, a hash or ragout. Farrago is a direct borrowing from a Latin word meaning "medley, mix of grains for animal feed," itself from far = "grain".

From Graham Asher:

[M]y eye was caught by the strange collocation "Handbooks" and "Daggers", translating Ἐγχειρίδια et Παραξιφίδας.

But Ἐγχειρίδια itself can mean 'daggers', and the fact that 'daggers' comes next suggests that the two titles are variations on the same thing...