excursus means A fuller treatment (in a separate section) of a particular part of the text of a book, especially a classic. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 76 out of 100.
excursus is pronounced /ɛkˈskɝsəs/.
Why “excursus” is a great word
EXCURSUS — [Noun] A formal, self-contained scholarly digression that explores a tangential point in exhaustive detail within the main body of a text. Learned borrowing from Latin excursus ("a running out, sally, digression"), from excurrere ("to run out"). First used in English circa 1803. Unlike a "digression," which suggests a casual, unstructured departure, or an "appendix," which is supplementary material relegated to a work's end, an excursus is a deliberate, embedded expedition. It is the historian pausing a chronicle to meticulously dissect the design of a period saddle; the theologian halting an argument to unpack the philology of a single Greek particle; the novelist suspending a plot to anatomize the history of a minor character's pocket watch. It is the scholarly conscience honoring complexity, trusting the main road will still be there when it returns.
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin excursus (“excursion”). Doublet of excurse.
noun
- A fuller treatment (in a separate section) of a particular part of the text of a book, especially a classic.
- A narrative digression, especially to discuss a particular issue.“Here is what us scholars call an excursus. If you are an honest man the following page or two can be of no possible interest to you.”