glossarium

Forms

glōssārium n (genitive glōssāriī or glōssārī); second declension^[1] Medieval texts also spell it glosarium and use a masculine glossarius.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek γλωσσάριον (glōssárion), a diminutive of γλῶσσα (glôssa, “tongue; obsolete or foreign word”).^[3][4] Wiktionary instead analyses it as from Latin glōssa + -ārium,^[1] a derivation the TLL expressly rejects.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The only ancient example is in Aulus Gellius (c. 165 AD), who reports Cato's jibe at philosophers as mortuaria glossaria, collectors of dead and empty little words.^[5][6] The TLL takes the word there to mean an obscure word, not a collection of glosses, and holds that the later sense “glossary” was wrongly drawn from this passage.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In medieval Latin the word took the new sense of a collection of glosses, a glossary, and also named a commentary;^[2][7] library catalogues list such books from about 1000 on, sometimes with the masculine form glossarius.^[2] From the Latin, English formed glossary in the 14th century.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 165 AD – Aulus Gellius quotes Cato's phrase mortuaria glossaria.^[5][6]
• c. 1000 – A library catalogue lists two glossaries (duos glossarios).^[2]
• mid-14th century – English borrows it as glossary.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. An obscure or obsolete word needing explanation.^[3][5]
2. (Medieval Latin) A collection of glosses, a glossary.^[7][2]
3. (Medieval Latin) A commentary on a text.^[2]

Related words

• glossa
• English glossary

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill