Depending on the context in which it is used, the word gloss will present various references.
To explanation, the comment of a text is called a gloss. Generally, the gloss is written in the margins or between the lines of the book in question in which the meaning of the text is explained in its original language; Due to this situation, glosses vary in terms of the complexity they present and then they can range from simple and simple notes in the margin on some words that the reader may find difficult or to complete translations of the original text plus references to similar paragraphs.
In medieval biblical theology the resource of the gloss was widely used and therefore many of the glosses of those times were studied, memorized by their own imprint, regardless of the author, even more so, in some cases a passage from the Bible he was better known for a particular gloss than for what he stood for. This same phenomenon occurred in the medieval legal sphere, for example, the glosses on Roman Law and Canon Law they constituted relevant reference points in those times.
Meanwhile, in the field of philology, the discipline that deals with the study of written texts, glosses also play a determining role, especially in those cases in which there is very little written material from the author of the gloss. In some situations the glosses have shed light on the vocabulary used in some past languages that might never otherwise have been known.
On Sociology we also find a word reference; the american sociologist Talcott parsons, used the word to name the process from which the mind builds reality.
Also in music we speak of a gloss, since it is the way in which the comment or explanation that indicates about the performance of certain passages of a musical work, normally, the instrumental type.
On the other hand, a gloss is also that explanatory note made on an account book. The accountant gave us several glosses that we should review.
And finally, gloss, it's a poetic composition in which another previous lyrical text is reworked.
For his part, the glossary, is the annex that generally appears at the end of books or encyclopedias, in which certain terms that are used in the text in question are defined and commented on with the mission of helping the reader to understand some of the words stated there .
