Protocol
/ˈproʊtəkɔːl/noun
An agreed set of rules governing how something is done, from diplomatic ceremony to clinical treatment to data exchange between machines.
The Greek roots
Literally: “first glued sheet”
The story of the word
A prōtokollon was the sheet glued to the front of a papyrus roll carrying the date and the scribe's name. Because that leaf authenticated the document, the word slid to mean the official record, then the draft of a treaty, then the etiquette that governs how diplomats greet one another. Computer networking borrowed it last, in the 1960s, for the rules two machines settle before they exchange anything.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Medieval Latin → Old French → English
- First recorded
- 15th century
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
Same family
In a sentence
The ward has a strict protocol for handling sharps.
Protocol required her to be seated before the ambassador spoke.