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A gloss (from Latin: glossa; from Greek: γλῶσσᾰ glôssa, meaning ‘language’) is a brief notation, especially a marginal one or an interlinear one, of the meaning of a word or wording in a text. It may be in the language of the text, or in the reader’s language if that is different.

A collection of glosses is a glossary. A collection of medieval legal glosses, made by glossators, is called an apparatus. The compilation of glosses into glossaries was the beginning of lexicography, and the glossaries so compiled were in fact the first dictionaries.

Source: Gloss (annotation) – Wikipedia

The Confederate privateers were privately owned ships that were authorized by the government of the Confederate States of America to attack the shipping of the United States. Although the appeal was to profit by capturing merchant vessels and seizing their cargoes, the government was most interested in diverting the efforts of the Union Navy away from the blockade of Southern ports, and perhaps to encourage European intervention in the conflict.

At the beginning of the American Civil War, the Confederate government sought to counter the United States Navy in part by appealing to private enterprise world-wide to engage in privateering against United States shipping.[1] Privateering was the practice of fitting ordinary private merchant vessels with modest armament, then sending them to sea to capture other merchant vessels in return for monetary reward. The captured vessels and cargo fell under customary prize rules at sea. Prizes would be taken to the jurisdiction of a competent court, which could be in the sponsoring country or theoretically in any neutral port. If the court found that the capture was legal, the ship and cargo would be forfeited and sold at a prize auction. The proceeds would be distributed among owners and crew according to a contractual arrangement.

Source: Confederate privateer – Wikipedia

The essence of cruiser rules is that an unarmed vessel should not be attacked without warning. It can be fired on only if it repeatedly fails to stop when ordered to do so or resists being boarded by the attacking ship. The armed ship may only intend to search for contraband (such as war materials) when stopping a merchantman. If so, the ship may be allowed on its way, as it must be if it is flying the flag of a non-belligerent, after removal of any contraband. However, if it is intended to take the captured ship as a prize of war, or to destroy it, then adequate steps must be taken to ensure the safety of the crew. This would usually mean taking the crew on board and transporting them to a safe port. It is not usually acceptable to leave the crew in lifeboats. This can only be done if they can be expected to reach safety by themselves and have sufficient supplies and navigational equipment to do so.[1]

Source: Cruiser rules – Wikipedia

When a privateer or naval vessel spotted a tempting vessel—whatever flag she flew or often enough flying none at all—they gave chase. Sailing under false colors was a common ruse, both for predator and prey. The convention was a vessel must hoist her true colors before firing the first shot. Firing under a false flag could cost dearly in prize court proceedings, even result in restitution to the captured vessel’s owner.[16]

Source: Prize (law) – Wikipedia

A monstrum is a sign or portent that disrupts the natural order as evidence of divine displeasure.[327] The word monstrum is usually assumed to derive, as Cicero says, from the verb monstro, “show” (compare English “demonstrate”), but according to Varro it comes from moneo, “warn.”[328] Because a sign must be startling or deviant to have an impact, monstrum came to mean “unnatural event”[329] or “a malfunctioning of nature.”[330] Suetonius said that “a monstrum is contrary to nature <or exceeds the nature> we are familiar with, like a snake with feet or a bird with four wings.”[331] The Greek equivalent was teras.[332] The English word “monster” derived from the negative sense of the word. Compare miraculum, ostentum, portentum, and prodigium.

In one of the most famous uses of the word in Latin literature, the Augustan poet Horace calls Cleopatra a fatale monstrum, something deadly and outside normal human bounds.[333] Cicero calls Catiline monstrum atque prodigium[334] and uses the phrase several times to insult various objects of his attacks as depraved and beyond the human pale. For Seneca, the monstrum is, like tragedy, “a visual and horrific revelation of the truth.”[335]

Source: Glossary of ancient Roman religion – Wikipedia

The Great Rhetra (Greek: Μεγάλη Ῥήτρα, literally: Great “Saying” or “Proclamation”, charter) was used in two senses by the classical authors. In one sense, it was the Spartan Constitution, believed to have been formulated and established by the legendary lawgiver, Lycurgus. In the legend Lycurgus forbade any written constitution. It was therefore presumed to have been oral. In a second sense, the rhetra refers to an oracle of Delphi, which was believed to have contained the entire constitution in verse. Th

Source: Great Rhetra – Wikipedia

The Lia Fáil was thought to be magical: when the rightful High King of Ireland put his feet on it, the stone was said to roar in joy.[1] The stone is also credited with the power to rejuvenate the king and also to endow him with a long reign.

Source: Lia Fáil – Wikipedia

Using the Quatrian Oracle cards:

According to the legend found in Plutarch’s Lives and other sources, when Lycurgus became confident in his reforms, he announced that he would go to the oracle at Delphi to sacrifice to Apollo. However, before leaving for Delphi he called an assembly of the people of Sparta and made everyone, including the kings and Gerousia, take an oath binding them to observe his laws until he returned. He made the journey to Delphi and consulted the oracle, which told him that his laws were excellent and would make his people famous. He then disappeared from history. One explanation was that being satisfied by this he starved himself to death instead of returning home, forcing the citizens of Sparta by oath to keep his laws indefinitely.[11]

Source: Lycurgus of Sparta – Wikipedia

Feronia’s name is derived from a Sabine adjective corresponding to Latin fĕrus. Feronia comes from Etruscan, but with a long vowel, i.e. Fērōnǐa. The root fer has cognate words in every Indo-European language (e.g. Greek θήρ, θήριον) and is also the root of the Vedic god Rudrá’s name. Latin fĕrus means “not cultivated, untamed” (Thesaurus Linguae Latinae), “of the field, wood”, “untamed”, “not mitigated by any cultivation” (Forcellini Totius Latinatis Lexicon) which fits the environment of the sanctuaries of Feronia and is very close to rudis (rude).[…]

 

Source: Feronia (mythology) – Wikipedia