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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/40404
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/40404
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

If you've ever studied a foreign language, you'd know how annoying it is to go check words in a dictionary; it breaks the flow of your reading, breaks the immersion, and sends you off to perform a "chore". A glossary is no different from a real dictionary in this regard - if your readers have to go search for a word, it breaks their flow, breaks their enjoyment of the book.

**What you're writing should thus stand on its own right, no glossary needed.** If you're introducing some made-up or very rare terms, they should be understood from context, or described / explained within the text - whatever better suits each particular case. (Consider, for example, how Tolkien explains what hobbits are, and lets you understand from context everything you need to know about orcs.)

One thing you should beware of is the trope called [Calling a Rabbit a "Smeerp"](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CallARabbitASmeerp). That's when there's no real good reason to use an obscure term for something that has an English word. Your 'dryadalum', 'stella', 'inlustris', 'solis' and 'morbus' come to mind. Do you have a really good reason not to use 'elf', 'star' 'starlight' etc. instead? Remember also this xkcd:

[![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/xTVbN.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/xTVbN.png)

([source](https://xkcd.com/483/))

Original score: 4