The BSS Sundial Glossary
	Several letters to the BSS Bulletin in 1999 suggested that a sundialling glossary would be useful in furthering the society’s aims. It is hoped that this resulting glossary will fulfil two objectives. The first of these is to provide newcomers to dialling with a reference document which will explain the many strange terms or unusual usages of common words which they will come across in the dialling literature. The second objective is to try to produce definitive meanings of the terms which diallists sometimes use rather loosely, and which can therefore lead to some confusion. Thus when several words have the same meaning, the preferred use is described here. Likewise, an attempt has been made to produce a standardised set of symbols for the most widely used terms in dialling equations. Choices between different meanings have been made on the basis of adopting the most common modern usage found in the literature (particularly those items shown in the Sources section) as long as this does not produce confusion. Alternative usages, spellings or conventions which may be met, particularly in early dialling works, have been given where possible, but it is hoped that future authors will adopt the preferred definitions given here. As English is used in countries other than the UK, there may be alternative definitions overseas. However, this glossary has been assembled with collaboration from the North American Sundial Society and, via the medium of the internet, diallists worldwide, so it is not expected that there will be major differences in terminology throughout the majority of the English-speaking world.The alphabetical section of the glossary consists of over 190kb, please watch the status bar of your browser and wait for the entire document to load. John Davis - BSS Glossary Editor
	UPDATES TO THE EDITOR It is proposed to update this glossary periodically, so that it will develop along with the science of dialling. If you have any comments, corrections or additions, please inform the editor at john.davis51@btopenworld.com or at the address below. John Davis Orchard View, Tye Lane Flowton, Ipswich IP8 4LD UK May 2000
	SCOPE The glossary contains mainly terms which are directly related to dials and dialling. Additionally, excursions into the fields of astronomy, horology, optics and solar sciences have been made where it seems useful. Some comments on the history of dialling are made, but there are no direct entries for famous diallists, except where something is named after them.
	NOTATION Words thus are links to entries in this glossary or other internal references. Bold text indicates a definition. ~ indicates a repeat of the entry word. Symbols in square brackets [x, X ] give the preferred symbol and abbreviation. See section on Symbols for a full list. Alternative spellings or terms to the preferred ones are shown in brackets thus: {dialing}. Pronunciation of unusual words is shown with a simplified phonetic scheme thus: gnomon (pron. no-mon). If no pronunciation is given for an entry, it is pronounced as it is written (following normal Oxford Dictionary rules for English pronunciation). A note on the Southern Hemisphere. This glossary has been written primarily for the Northern Hemisphere, since this is where the majority (but not all) of the BSS membership resides. Gnomons in the Southern Hemisphere generally point to the S celestial pole, and the hour numbers on a horizontal dial run anti-clockwise rather than clockwise. The notation and equations used in the glossary are consistent as long as the sign conventions are followed, but the reader must mentally change N to S in the text.
	PRINTED VERSION This Glossary is also published by the British Sundial Society as a printed book which is now available.
	ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank the numerous members of the BSS and the NASS who helped with the definitions of terms, and who provided encouragement to the project. These include, in no particular order, Margaret Stanier, David Young, Patrick Powers, John Carmichael, Harvey Frey, Tony Wood, John Ingram, Doug Bateman, Frank and Rosie Evans, David Scott, Fer de Vries, Gianni Ferrari, Tony Baigent, Chris Lusby Taylor, Mac Oglesby, Vit Planocka, Daniel Wenger, Gordon Taylor, Michael Lowne, Sara Schechner, Robert van Gent, Tony Moss, Allan Mills, Thibaud Taudin-Chabot, Gerald Stancey, Mike Cowham, Gloria Clifton.
	WEB DESIGNER Conversion of the printed version for this website has been a complex and demanding task, undertaken by BSS member Robert Terwilliger who is also the Webmaster for the North American Sundial Society.
	Glossary: a list with explanations of abstruse, antiquated, dialectal or technical terms.