Syllabus

Plural: syllabuses or syllabi

A summary of a course, giving the main points, the sequence of topics and assignments; also an outline of a lecture or text. In Law: a report on a case, including a summary of rulings on each point.

 

**From Latin sillybus, "parchment tag", from Greek sillubos, "a parchment label" attached to the outside of a papyrus roll.**

The word comes to us from certain letters of Cicero in one of which he writes:

...ut sumant membranulam ex qua indices fiant, quos voc Graeci, ut opinor, sillubous appellatis. Ad Atticum 4.4a.1.

Cicero puts the word in question in Greek and a great debate has raged over what word he meant to write. Many scholars prefer sittuba, a "small piece of leather". In any case, neither "sillybus" nor "sittyba" has prevailed. The current spelling comes through Medieval Latin and is influenced by Greek sullambanein, to put together, a more easily etymologized spelling, though the etymology is, of course, false.

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