A glossary is an ordered catalogue of words, which appear with their definition or explanation.
From the Latin glossarium , a glossary is a catalogue of words from a single discipline or field of study, which are defined, explained or commented on. It is also a catalogue of obsolete words or a set of comments and glosses on an author's texts.
A set of glosses
The concept is used to refer to the set of glosses , which are small notes made to explain the meaning or context in which a word is used within a text. In general, those books that deal with specific topics of a subject (scientific, religious, etc.) add a glossary at the end of the same where certain terms are listed whose meaning may not have been understood ; in this way readers can understand the text in a broader way.
A glossary is often added at the end of a book or encyclopedia to complement the main information. For example, a novel dealing with religious matters may include several Latin terms. The glossary will therefore include an explanation of these terms. This way, the reader will be able to understand the meaning of the text more precisely.
It is common nowadays to find a book that contains at the end an appendix consisting of a set of "rare" words that have appeared during the reading and that are not frequently used, along with their meaning. Sometimes these terms are from another language or belong to an ancient language or to idioms from a certain place . For example, in a gaucho story the meanings of certain lunfardo words related to that historical period often appear and that out of context we would not be able to understand and would make the understanding of said text more difficult.
Types of glossary
Glossaries are written by specialists but are intended for a broader audience (i.e. they are intended to go beyond the circle of people who specialize in a subject). A person who is well-versed in a certain field is not supposed to need additional explanations about the words used. A neophyte, on the other hand, needs the glossary to help him understand the content.
Glossaries are similar to dictionaries, although there are differences.
There are glossaries for a wide variety of fields and areas. An environmental glossary will include an explanation of terms such as ecology , recycling and sustainable . A computer glossary , on the other hand, will explain concepts such as computer , hardware , software and the Internet .
It is worth mentioning that, depending on the subject matter of a text or article, its glossary will include terms that not only appear in it, but also provide additional knowledge and annotations to the reader. The job of glossators is to know how to choose which are the most relevant and interesting words of the term that are worth including in the appendix to instruct readers.
Differences with dictionaries
Although a glossary is not the same as a dictionary , the latter were originally similar to glossaries, and from there comes the association that is established between the two today.
The Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) defines a dictionary as a book in which words from a language or a specific subject are collected and explained in an orderly manner (usually alphabetically); there is no classification by subject and no relationships are established with the rest of the words belonging to the same.
In ancient times, glossators were those who were dedicated to collecting obscure terms or terms with meanings that were not so common and making notes on them that allowed a better understanding of the texts. Based on this utility, dictionaries were later created, which were more extensive but had a similar purpose: to provide knowledge about the meaning of words.