Etymology

glossary

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Today it means: A list of difficult words or specialized terms used in a particular book or document, or in a particular domain of knowledge, with their definitions; a list of glosses (explanatory annotations). Full definition →

Middle English glosarie ← Latin glossārium ← Ancient Greek γλῶσσα
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The story

  1. Ancient Greek · derived fromγλῶσσα“tongue”
  2. Latin · derived fromglossārium
  3. Middle English · inherited fromglosarie
  4. English todayglossary

From Middle English glosarie, from Latin glossārium, from Ancient Greek γλῶσσα (glôssa, “tongue”). Doublet of glossarium.

Words from the same roots

Latinglossārium all →

glossarium

Ancient Greekγλῶσσα all →

glossGlosa-glossiaglossologyInterglossaphaneroglossal

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.