'Syllabus' is a Renaissance misreading of Latin 'sittybas' — one of etymology's most celebrated ghost words.
An outline or summary of the main topics to be covered in a course of study or teaching; a concise statement of the subjects included in a curriculum.
From Modern Latin 'syllabus,' a Renaissance misreading of Latin 'sittybas' (accusative plural of 'sittyba'), from Greek 'sittuba' or 'sittybos' (a parchment label or title slip attached to a scroll). The misreading likely occurred in a 1470s printed edition of Cicero's 'Ad Atticum,' where a scribe or typesetter mistook the unfamiliar Greek-derived 'sittybas' for a Latinized form 'syllabus.' The error stuck, was adopted into academic usage, and generated
The word 'syllabus' is one of the most famous ghost words in any language — it never existed in classical Latin. It was born from a printer's error in a 1470s edition of Cicero, where 'sittybas' was misread as 'syllabus.' The false Latin plural 'syllabi' compounds the error: it is a Latin plural of a word Latin never had.