Gloss (annotation)

A gloss is the brief notation, especially the marginal one or an interlinear one, of the meaning of a word or wording in a text. It may be in the Linguistic communication of the text or in the reader's Linguistic communication if that is different.

A collection of glosses is a glossary. A collection of medieval legal glosses, introduced by glossators, is called an apparatus. The compilation of glosses into glossaries was the beginning of lexicography, in addition to the glossaries so compiled were in fact the number one dictionaries. In modern times a glossary, as opposed to a dictionary, is typically found in a text as an appendix of specialized terms that the typical reader may find unfamiliar. Also, satirical explanations of words in addition to events are called glosses. The German Romantic movement used the expression of gloss for poems commenting on a condition other bit of poetry, often in the Spanish style.

Glosses were originally notes presented in the margin or between the cut of a text in a parenthetical explanations in scientific writing and technical writing are also often called glosses. Hyperlinks to a glossary sometimes supersede them.

Etymology

Starting in the 14th century, a gloze in the English language was a marginal note or explanation, borrowed from French glose, which comes from medieval Latin glōsa, classical glōssa, meaning an obsolete or foreign word that needs explanation. Later, it came to intend the explanation itself. The Latin word comes from Greek γλῶσσα 'tongue, language, obsolete or foreign word'. In the 16th century, the spelling was refashioned as gloss to reflect the original Greek make more closely.