Meanings
glossator1
plural glossators
- One who writes glosses.
One to two generations after its copying, an extensive but intermittent interlinear Latin gloss [...] was added[.] [...] The glossator also added a single [Old English] gloss
2008, “Introduction”, in Richard Marsden, editor, The Old English Heptateuch; and, Ælfric's Libellus de Veteri Testamento et Novo, Oxford: Oxford University Press, Section III: The Manuscript, page xlii - historicallawA legal scholar of the Middle Ages, (specifically) one who authored glosses on legal texts (especially the Corpus Juris of Justinian), typically distinguished from the later commentators who wrote in extended prose and adopted a more pragmatic form of jurisprudence.
Glossator2
plural Glossators
- Alternative letter-case form of glossator (medieval legal scholar)
Origin
- Latin-tor
- Medieval Latinglōsātor
- Middle Englishglosatour
- Englishglossator
From Middle English glosatour, from Medieval Latin glōsātor, glossātor, from glōsāre, glōssāre (“to gloss”) + Latin -tor (agent suffix).
More words from Middle English, Medieval Latin, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
French glossateur, glossateur
- glossateurone who writes glosses
- glossateurmedieval legal scholar
German Glossator, Glossator
- Glossatorone who writes glosses
- Glossatormedieval legal scholar
Hungarian szójegyzékíró, szómagyarázó
- szójegyzékíróone who writes glosses
- szómagyarázóone who writes glosses
- glosszátormedieval legal scholar
Italian glossatore, glossatore
- glossatoreone who writes glosses
- glossatoremedieval legal scholar
Latin glossator, glossator
- glossatorone who writes glosses
- glossatormedieval legal scholar
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with glossator
Cite this entry
glossator. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/glossator
“glossator.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/glossator. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “glossator,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/glossator.
Source: glossator on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.