delectus

Etymology
From, from.

Noun

 * 1)  An elementary reader (collection of passages) for learners of a language
 * 2) * 1871-2, George Eliot, Middlemarch, volume I, book IV, chapter 37
 * If she spoke with any keenness of interest to Mr. Casaubon, he heard her with an air of patience as if she had given a quotation from the Delectus familiar to him from his tender years, and sometimes mentioned curtly what ancient sects or personages had held similar ideas, as if there were too much of that sort in stock already; at other times he would inform her that she was mistaken, and reassert what her remark had questioned.

Etymology
Perfect passive participle of.

Participle

 * 1) picked off, having been picked off, plucked off, having been plucked off; culled, having been culled
 * 2) chosen, having been chosen, selected, having been selected

Noun

 * 1) selection, choice, distinction
 * 2) levy, recruiting