Etymograph

English

syllabus

Syllabus comes from Medieval Latin syllabus ‘list’, from Latin accūsō ‘to accuse, blame’, and ultimately from causa ‘cause, reason, account, lawsuit’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcausa‘cause, reason, account, lawsuit’
  2. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEaccūsō‘to accuse, blame’
  3. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500accūsātīvusas accusative
  4. Medieval Latin, derivedc. 600–1500syllabus‘list’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 2019syllabus

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcausa‘cause, reason, account, lawsuit’
  2. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEaccūsō‘to accuse, blame’
  3. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500accūsātīvusas accusative
  4. Medieval Latin, derivedc. 600–1500syllabus‘list’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 2019syllabus

Earliest quotation: 2019, A Falun Dafa practitioner in Australia, Eliminating Attachments While Helping Coordinate a Minghui S: “In the first half of the year, teachers attended…”

The story

Borrowed from Medieval Latin syllabus (‘list’), which arose from accusative plural syllabōs appearing as a corruption of sittybās (accusative plural of sittyba, from Ancient Greek σιττύβα (sittúba, “parchment label; table of contents”)) in a 1470s edition of Cicero's “Ad Atticum” IV.5 and 8, influenced by the stem of Ancient Greek συλλαμβάνω (sullambánō, “to put together”).

Linked words

through Latin causa ‘cause, reason, account, lawsuit’

because, cause, chose, chest, accuse, causal, inexcusable, causative, excusable, 21 more

through Latin accūsō ‘to accuse, blame’

accusation, accuser, 11 more

through Medieval Latin accūsātīvus

accusative, 6 more

Today it means

noun A summary of topics which will be covered during an academic course, or a text or lecture.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Latin causa / syllabus

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