Syllabus

Have you ever wrapped an elastic band around a stack of papers in order to keep them organized or to keep them from getting scattered? Have you ever put a post-it or some other kind of label on such a stack to remind yourself of what’s in the pile? I used to have piles of student assignments to be marked on my desk—a pile for each course. Now I have stacks of paper on my desk related to my different retirement projects.
 
In the past, bureaucrats or office workers wrapped files, notes, and other bundles of paper in red ribbon or tape. As you might expect, this is the origin of the phrase ‘red tape’!
 
In ancient Greece, before the invention of post-its or elastic bands or red tape, scholars or clerks wrapped documents with a strip of leather called a sittybos (a parchment label, a table of contents), which is a word of unknown origin.  
 
During the Roman Empire, Greek sittybos became the Latin word sillybus, apparently the result of a misreading or mistranslation. Latin sillybus was a strip of parchment used to wrap around a scroll or codex (i.e., a small book) and which was used as a label for this scroll or codex.  
 
The word sillybus evolved to be the word syllabus, first seen in English in 1656. By that time, the word syllabus had come to mean a summary outline of a document. We now use the word syllabus to mean a short document which summarizes the key points of a course or program.
 
And, of course, a syllabus should not be confused with a syllabub—a traditional frothy creamy dessert concoction from England. 
 
Reference: Online Etymological Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/
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