Glossarist

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A scholar or annotator who compiles explanations and interpretations of difficult or unfamiliar terms found in texts
2. An individual who specializes in creating glossaries by providing definitions and explanations for complex terminology used in various fields
3. A person who engages in the practice of elucidating the meanings of obscure or technical words through the preparation of a glossary

Etymology: A glossarist is simply someone who compiles glossaries, the small lists of hard or specialised words with explanations that often appear at the back of a book. The word is built from "glossary", itself drawn from the Latin "glossarium", a collection of glosses, and the suffix "-ist", which turns a noun into a name for a person who practises or makes something. A glossarist, then, is a maker of word-lists, the kind of person who turns an obscure vocabulary into something a general reader can follow. The suffix does most of the work here. "-ist" attaches to a noun to name someone who works with or follows that thing, as in "artist" or "dentist", and it can be added to almost any noun to coin a new role. The base word, "glossary", carries its own older story, since the "gloss" element goes back to a Greek word for the tongue and for an unusual word needing explanation.