Abstract

This article intends to investigate the etymology, the historical meanings and the semantic nuances of the terms used now or in the past, in the main languagesof Western Europe, to refer to marginal annotations of texts. The study shows that depending on the words under consideration, what stands out is either theirhermeneutic dimension (›gloss‹ and, to a lesser extent, ›scholion‹), their location on the page (›marginalia‹) or the time gap between their formulation and thatof the text (›apostil‹). Also, the focus may be on the material aspect of their production, especially when handwritten (›annotation‹).While ›notes‹, ›remarks‹and ›annotations‹ in their diversity may come from the writer himself, ›glosses‹ and ›scholia‹ are typically added by distinct authors, ancient scholars commenting in its margins a text that has become canonical.