Etymology
Glossa, the name of our society, derives from the Ancient Greek word glossa, meaning (1) 'tongue', (2) 'language', and (3) 'a mouthpiece'. Borrowed from Greek into late Latin, glo(s)sa means (1) a difficult passage or word, (2) an explanation, comment, interpretation.
Glossa was a current term in the Middle Ages, denoting a commentary made on an authoritative text, either in the margins or in between the lines.
In the central Middle Ages glossators, mainly scholars of law or theology, perfected the gloss as a form of scientific writing. Perhaps the best known juridical example of this trend is the Glossa ordinaria (known also as the Glossa magistralia), composed by the year 1230 by Accursius of Bologna (ca. 1182/1185 - 1260/1263). It consists of the three fundamental sixth century texts of Roman law (the Institutiones, Digesta and Codex Justinianus), commented in over 96,000 marginal glosses and notes. Theologians also gathered a Glossa ordinaria to collect commentaries on the medieval Bible, the Vulgate. While it seems to have attained its most popular form by the mid-twelfth century in the school of Laon, its earliest forms can be traced back to the ninth century. For centuries, the Glossa ordinaria comprised the basic text of Biblical exegesis.
