syllabus

Meaning

Noun

• A summary of topics which will be covered during an academic course, or a text or lecture.
• The headnote of a reported case; the brief statement of the points of law determined prefixed to a reported case.

Origin

• Borrowed from Medieval Latin syllabus, which arose as a misprint, its accusative plural syllabos appearing in place of sittybas in a 1470s edition of Cicero's “Ad Atticum” IV.5 and 8. The corrupt form was influenced by the stem of Ancient Greek συλλαμβάνω, the source of σῠλλᾰβή; the true etymon is σιττύβα of unknown origin.