• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
Zippy Facts Logo

Zippy Facts

Interesting Random Facts

  • Animals
  • Culture
  • Firsts
  • Food
  • Geography
  • Health
  • History
  • Inventions
  • Language
  • Mythology
  • Odds
  • People
  • Religion
  • Science
  • Space
  • Universe
  • World
You are here: Home / Language / Where does the word “Syllabus” come from and What does Syllabus mean in Greek?

Where does the word “Syllabus” come from and What does Syllabus mean in Greek?

May 23, 2020 by Karen Hill

The word syllabus is a word created by a printer’s error, but which is now firmly fixed in the language.

Cicero had written, in his Epistles to the Atticans, “indices . . . quos vos Graeci . . . sittubas appellatis” (indexes, which were called sittubas by the Greeks).

The key word was misprinted syllabos in a fifteenth-century edition of Cicero, and the misprint was adopted as a learned synonym for “index” (with our present spelling).

From its use as “index” or “table of contents,” the meaning has spread to its modern sense , “the subjects of a series of lectures.”

Related Facts

  • Top 25 Inventions That Changed Our Lives Forever
  • History of Alcohol
  • The Best 20 Inventions Ever Invented
  • Top 25 Inventions That Changed the World
  • The History of the Dictionary
  • Where does the word “aisle” come from and What does it mean?

Filed Under: Language

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

Previous Post: « Where does the word “Isinglass” come from and What does Isinglass mean in Dutch?
Next Post: Where does the word “Firedamp” come from and What does Firedamp mean? »

Footer

Follow

  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • GitHub
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Medium
  • Pinterest
  • StumbleUpon
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Categories

Accomplishments Animals Culture Firsts Food Geography Health History Inventions Language Mythology Odds People Religion Science Space Universe World Your Body

About

Zippy Facts empowers the world by serving educational content that is accessible to everyone.

A tribute to growing up, zippyfacts.com showcases interesting and unusual facts about the world.

Our mission is to use technology to facilitate knowledge transfer and sharing.

Copyright © 2020 Zippy Facts

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy