The Reichenau Glosses were compiled in the 8th century in Picardy, to help local monks understand archaic terms in the Vulgate, which had been written over three centuries prior in Late Latin, a language which they could no longer understand without formal training. For each obscure biblical term a more familiar equivalent is supplied, sometimes another Classical Latin one, sometimes a Gallo-Romance or Germanic one with a latinized spelling. Usually it was the glossing term that lived on in later French, not the biblical one- although sometimes the latter survived in specialized uses or in other Romance Languages.