History of the Spanish language

La glosa antigua is the note a monk wrote in the margin, and « gloss » is a word English has twice over, from two languages that never met. The one that matches la glosa came through Latin from Greek and means a word explained: a glossary is a book of them, and « to gloss over » is to explain something away rather than explain it. The other came from the north and means shine — lip gloss, gloss paint, a glossy magazine — and has nothing whatever to do with language. Spanish keeps them apart without trying: la glosa is the note and el brillo is the shine.