Apostil

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A brief note or comment added to a document to explain or clarify its content
2. An annotation attached to a text for the purpose of providing additional information or comment
3. A short explanatory statement appended to a written document to give further detail or context

Etymology: The word comes from a Latin phrase that was used as a marginal cross-reference in medieval manuscripts. Scribes writing commentary on a text in the margins would mark the place where the comment belonged and then write "post illa (verba)", meaning "after those (words)", to tell the reader where the note should be read. Over time, the abbreviated phrase was taken as a noun in French, "postille", meaning a marginal note. From French, the word passed into English as "apostil", a note added to a document. The initial "a-" was probably a result of the word being understood as containing the preposition "a" or "à" before "postille", a common pattern in borrowed forms, though this is uncertain. The English word kept its sense of an addition to a text that supplements or clarifies what came before.

Synonyms: annotation, comment, note, remark