In general, lexicography is concerned with the design, compilation, use, and evaluation of dictionaries, that is lists of the words of a language, typically presented in alphabetical order, to explain their meaning and provide some information about the word pronunciation, origin, and usage (explanatory, or monolingual dictionaries), or to give the equivalent words in a different language (bilingual and multilingual dictionaries). A dictionary is certainly the most widely known and used reference book. All schoolchildren are taught how to use a dictionary to help them understand the meaning and use of words, gain knowledge, and pursue independent studies. In addition, there are dictionaries that are expert-produced for different types of user, including advanced learners’ dictionaries, often targeted at university student speakers of other languages, and subject-specific dictionaries that contain definitions in a certain subject area, such as business, medicine, aviation, engineering, fashion, etc. A good dictionary is compiled by organizing a large number of words into one list, and specialized dictionaries are found to be overwhelming in their variety and diversity (Lund University, 2020; Read, 2024). In this respect, another type of lexicographical resource of terminology should be mentioned, namely a glossary.

The word “glossary” originates from Latin “glossarium”, which is a collection of glosses, or explanations of words (especially those that are not in ordinary use). The word “gloss” comes from the Classic Greek word “glossa”, meaning a difficult word or a word that needs explanation. The meaning of the word “gloss” has changed over time, from referring to a difficult word to a brief explanation of such a word. Glossography is now a sub-field of lexicography that refers both to the practice of writing and inserting glosses into texts and to the creation of glossaries (Tarp & Gouws, 2023). The first bilingual French-English glossary for the use of travelers was printed in England in 1480, and the earliest monolingual glossary of English law terms was published in 1527. At that time, a glossary was a short list, sometimes at the back of a book, created with the purpose of making content-specific words easily accessible to the reader (Read, 2024).

Today, if we look up the word “glossary” in different monolingual dictionaries of contemporary English, we can define it as an alphabetical list of special, unusual, or technical terms or expressions (especially those in a particular text that is difficult to understand, or in a special area of usage), giving explanations of their meanings, often at the back of a book on a particular subject, e.g. a glossary of financial terms, a glossary of horse-riding terms, a glossary of technical terms, a glossary of police terminology, a glossary of key terms (Collins, 2024).

Furthermore, a word search by Sketch Engine results in the five most frequently used adjectives to go with “glossary”, these being alphabetical, bilingual, comprehensive, and helpful, which indicates how useful glossaries are for better understanding the language and thus communication.

Indeed, according to Stan (2023), the glossary covers the dictionary user’s needs in a particular situation and can fulfill the knowledge-oriented function by providing special information about the subject field or the discipline, and the communication-oriented function by helping with the reception, production, and translation of specialized texts (Stan, 2023, p. 224). As a result, research has been done to apply a glossary-based approach to teaching English for Specific Purposes (ESP), whereby terminology acquisition is seen as part of ESP training and students learn professional vocabulary by reading technical literature and compiling bilingual glossaries of technical terms and their definitions and translations. It is suggested that bilingual instruction should be beneficial as ESP students become aware of how particular terms are used in the target and source languages (Gajšt, 2011).

In fact, some ESP coursebooks are often supplemented with a glossary, usually a bilingual one, which covers the scope of a course syllabus. The other existing relevant glossaries are also recommended as study materials. These stand-alone glossaries, which can be found online as useful links provided by various organizations, institutions, and companies that specialize in a specific area of professional activity, are typically simple in form, just offering the target term with a short explanation (monolingual) or translation (bilingual), and only occasionally include further details, such as British and American pronunciation transcriptions, some related set expressions, collocations, illustrating diagrams, etc. On the whole, it is advisable to introduce ESP students to the basics of dictionary use, and the nature of the reference resources, thus fostering their autonomous learning. Teaching dictionary skills through dictionary compilation when students create their own ESP dictionary entries might be challenging; still, it is important to increase students’ awareness of the distinctions between different ESP tools, and glossaries are certainly an essential element of that toolkit (Durovic, 2021; Krajka, 2015).

Among lexicographical resources suited for terminological studies, glossaries stand out as they represent standardized language use within a specific subject area or industry and can help in building and/or updating the terminological system of that industry. In practice, today glossaries are considered to be a fundamental terminology management tool which ensures identification, storage, and management of company, customer or product terminology, especially for translation purposes. They are easy to create and manage, which makes them perfect for small single-subject projects with consistent terminology (Munteanu, 2024). For example, in 2022, Eltel Networks, a provider of power, distribution and communication services in Poland, compiled a glossary of electric power engineering terms that arranges the vocabulary into several thematic groups, such as distribution of electricity, electricity consumers, power cables, energy storage facilities, and types of metering (Duży, 2022), which illustrates the main concepts of this particular field of engineering.

In conclusion, the glossary of terms is a comprehensive reference work that can be helpful for linguists, translators, interpreters, and, of course, ESP learners. It is a lexicographical resource of terminology that can bridge a gap between specialists and non-specialists, between native-language specialists and foreign language learners, and also enhance knowledge development, information exchange, and collaboration in multicultural environments.

References:

1. Collins. (2024). Definition of “glossary”. Collins Dictionaries. https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/glossary
2. Durovic, Z. (2021). Corpus Linguistics Methods for Building ESP Word Lists, Glossaries and Dictionaries on the Example of a Marine Engineering Word List. Lexikos, 31, 259-282.
3. Duży, D. (2022, July 13). Glossary of the terms and issues relating to the electrical power engineering, part 1. Eltel Networks. https://www.eltelnetworks.pl/pl-en/blog/2022/glossary-of-the-terms-and-issues-relating-to-the-electrical-power-engineering-part-1/
4. Gajšt, N. (2011). A glossary-based approach to ESP terminology acquisition. Inter Alia, 2, 21-41.
5. Krajka, J. (2015). Online lexicological tools in ESP – towards an approach to strategy training. Scripta Manent, 3(1), 3-19.
6. Lund University. (2020). General information on dictionary use. Academic Writing in English. https://www.awelu.lu.se/language/dictionaries/general-information-on-dictionary-use/
7. Munteanu, O. (2024, June 21). The Importance of Term Base and Glossary Creation in Translation. PoliLingua. Translation Technology. https://www.polilingua.com/blog/post/glossary_termbase_creation.htm
8. Read, A. Walker (2024, September 23). Dictionary. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/dictionary
9. Stan, A. (2023). Compiling a specialized bilingual glossary: challenges and outcomes. Language and communication in the digital age. P. 218-234.
10. Tarp, S., & Gouws, R. H. (2023). A necessary redefinition of lexicography in the digital age: Glossography, dictionography and implications for the future. Lexikos, 33(1), 425-447.