diff --git a/TODO b/TODO
index a6be44774..a8608f84a 100644
--- a/TODO
+++ b/TODO
@@ -9,4 +9,3 @@ Global TODO
 - look at the old tools/ scripts, what functionality should be rewritten
 - add search via Xapian?
 - optionally have a contents tree view in the sidebar (AJAX based)?
-- .. caveat?
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/sphinx/addnodes.py b/sphinx/addnodes.py
index 51626d030..eea1a9a90 100644
--- a/sphinx/addnodes.py
+++ b/sphinx/addnodes.py
@@ -53,9 +53,13 @@ class highlightlang(nodes.Element): pass
 # like emphasis, but doesn't apply further text processors, e.g. smartypants
 class literal_emphasis(nodes.emphasis): pass
 
+# glossary
+class glossary(nodes.Element): pass
+
 # make them known to docutils. this is needed, because the HTMl writer
 # will choke at some point if these are not added
 nodes._add_node_class_names("""index desc desc_content desc_signature
       desc_classname desc_name desc_parameterlist desc_parameter desc_optional
       centered versionmodified seealso productionlist production toctree
-      pending_xref compact_paragraph highlightlang""".split())
+      pending_xref compact_paragraph highlightlang literal_emphasis
+      glossary""".split())
diff --git a/sphinx/directives.py b/sphinx/directives.py
index 3add1ae00..d0fc09219 100644
--- a/sphinx/directives.py
+++ b/sphinx/directives.py
@@ -579,3 +579,35 @@ def literalinclude_directive(name, arguments, options, content, lineno,
 literalinclude_directive.content = 0
 literalinclude_directive.arguments = (1, 0, 0)
 directives.register_directive('literalinclude', literalinclude_directive)
+
+
+# ------ glossary directive ---------------------------------------------------------
+
+def glossary_directive(name, arguments, options, content, lineno,
+                       content_offset, block_text, state, state_machine):
+    """Glossary with cross-reference targets for :dfn: roles."""
+    env = state.document.settings.env
+    node = addnodes.glossary()
+    state.nested_parse(content, content_offset, node)
+
+    # the content should be definition lists
+    dls = [child for child in node if isinstance(child, nodes.definition_list)]
+    # now, extract definition terms to enable cross-reference creation
+    for dl in dls:
+        dl['classes'].append('glossary')
+        for li in dl.children:
+            if not li.children or not isinstance(li[0], nodes.term):
+                continue
+            termtext = li.children[0].astext()
+            new_id = 'term-' + nodes.make_id(termtext)
+            if new_id in env.gloss_entries:
+                new_id = 'term-' + str(len(env.gloss_entries))
+            env.gloss_entries.add(new_id)
+            li[0]['names'].append(new_id)
+            li[0]['ids'].append(new_id)
+            state.document.settings.env.note_glossaryterm(termtext, new_id)
+    return [node]
+
+glossary_directive.content = 1
+glossary_directive.arguments = (0, 0, 0)
+directives.register_directive('glossary', glossary_directive)
diff --git a/sphinx/environment.py b/sphinx/environment.py
index 704c5b92f..ae3c808fa 100644
--- a/sphinx/environment.py
+++ b/sphinx/environment.py
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ default_settings = {
 
 # This is increased every time a new environment attribute is added
 # to properly invalidate pickle files.
-ENV_VERSION = 10
+ENV_VERSION = 11
 
 
 def walk_depth(node, depth, maxdepth):
@@ -206,6 +206,7 @@ class BuildEnvironment:
         self.modules = {}           # modname -> filename, synopsis, platform, deprecated
         self.tokens = {}            # tokenname -> filename
         self.labels = {}            # labelname -> filename, labelid
+        self.glossary = {}          # term -> filename, labelid
 
         # Other inventories
         self.indexentries = {}      # filename -> list of
@@ -219,6 +220,7 @@ class BuildEnvironment:
         self.currclass = None       # current class name
         self.currdesc = None        # current descref name
         self.index_num = 0          # autonumber for index targets
+        self.gloss_entries = set()  # existing definition labels
 
     def set_warning_stream(self, stream):
         self.warning_stream = stream
@@ -247,6 +249,9 @@ class BuildEnvironment:
             for labelname, (fn, _, _) in self.labels.items():
                 if fn == filename:
                     del self.labels[labelname]
+            for term, (fn, _) in self.glossary.items():
+                if fn == filename:
+                    del self.glossary[term]
             self.indexentries.pop(filename, None)
             for version, changes in self.versionchanges.items():
                 new = [change for change in changes if change[1] != filename]
@@ -351,6 +356,8 @@ class BuildEnvironment:
         self.filename = None
         self.currmodule = None
         self.currclass = None
+        self.indexnum = 0
+        self.gloss_entries = set()
 
         if save_parsed:
             # save the parsed doctree
@@ -497,7 +504,6 @@ class BuildEnvironment:
     def note_token(self, tokenname):
         self.tokens[tokenname] = self.filename
 
-
     def note_index_entry(self, type, string, targetid, aliasname):
         self.indexentries.setdefault(self.filename, []).append(
             (type, string, targetid, aliasname))
@@ -505,6 +511,9 @@ class BuildEnvironment:
     def note_versionchange(self, type, version, node):
         self.versionchanges.setdefault(version, []).append(
             (type, self.filename, self.currmodule, self.currdesc, node.deepcopy()))
+
+    def note_glossaryterm(self, text, labelname):
+        self.glossary[text] = (self.filename, labelname)
     # -------
 
     # --------- RESOLVING REFERENCES AND TOCTREES ------------------------------
@@ -592,6 +601,20 @@ class BuildEnvironment:
                         newnode['refuri'] = builder.get_relative_uri(
                             docfilename, filename) + '#' + labelid
                     newnode.append(nodes.emphasis(sectname, sectname))
+            elif typ == 'term':
+                filename, labelid = self.glossary.get(target, ('', ''))
+                if not filename:
+                    print >>self.warning_stream, \
+                          '%s: term not in glossary: %s' % (docfilename, target)
+                    newnode = contnode
+                else:
+                    newnode = nodes.reference('', '')
+                    if filename == docfilename:
+                        newnode['refid'] = labelid
+                    else:
+                        newnode['refuri'] = builder.get_relative_uri(
+                            docfilename, filename) + '#' + labelid
+                    newnode.append(contnode)
             elif typ == 'token':
                 filename = self.tokens.get(target, '')
                 if not filename:
diff --git a/sphinx/roles.py b/sphinx/roles.py
index 2f5dc6bb8..6aefee04c 100644
--- a/sphinx/roles.py
+++ b/sphinx/roles.py
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ ws_re = re.compile(r'\s+')
 
 generic_docroles = {
     'command' : nodes.strong,
-    'dfn' : addnodes.literal_emphasis,
+    'dfn' : addnodes.emphasis,
     'guilabel' : nodes.strong,
     'kbd' : nodes.literal,
     'keyword' : nodes.literal,
@@ -89,6 +89,7 @@ roles.register_local_role('rfc', indexmarkup_role)
 # default is `literal`
 innernodetypes = {
     'ref': nodes.emphasis,
+    'term': nodes.emphasis,
     'token': nodes.strong,
 }
 
@@ -106,7 +107,7 @@ def xfileref_role(typ, rawtext, text, lineno, inliner, options={}, content=[]):
        typ in ('data', 'exc', 'func', 'class', 'const', 'attr', 'meth'):
         text = text[1:]
         pnode['refspecific'] = True
-    pnode['reftarget'] = ws_re.sub('', text)
+    pnode['reftarget'] = ws_re.sub((' ' if typ == 'term' else ''), text)
     pnode['modname'] = env.currmodule
     pnode['classname'] = env.currclass
     pnode += innernodetypes.get(typ, nodes.literal)(rawtext, text, classes=['xref'])
@@ -153,6 +154,7 @@ specific_docroles = {
 
     'ref': xfileref_role,
     'token' : xfileref_role,
+    'term': xfileref_role,
 
     'menuselection' : menusel_role,
     'file' : emph_literal_role,
diff --git a/sphinx/style/default.css b/sphinx/style/default.css
index 39de529e7..50a22cdb4 100644
--- a/sphinx/style/default.css
+++ b/sphinx/style/default.css
@@ -691,6 +691,11 @@ dt:target,
     background-color: #fbe54e;
 }
 
+dl.glossary dt {
+    font-weight: bold;
+    font-size: 1.1em;
+}
+
 th {
     text-align: left;
     padding-right: 5px;
diff --git a/sphinx/style/traditional.css b/sphinx/style/traditional.css
index ca9587867..f99887d5b 100644
--- a/sphinx/style/traditional.css
+++ b/sphinx/style/traditional.css
@@ -591,6 +591,11 @@ dd {
     margin-left: 30px;
 }
 
+dl.glossary dt {
+    font-weight: bold;
+    font-size: 1.1em;
+}
+
 .refcount {
     color: #060;
 }
diff --git a/sphinx/templates/index.html b/sphinx/templates/index.html
index d2b4c1640..4ead86283 100644
--- a/sphinx/templates/index.html
+++ b/sphinx/templates/index.html
@@ -44,6 +44,8 @@
          <span class="linkdescr">quick access to all modules</span></p>
       <p class="biglink"><a class="biglink" href="{{ pathto("genindex.rst") }}">General Index</a><br>
          <span class="linkdescr">all functions, classes, terms</span></p>
+      <p class="biglink"><a class="biglink" href="{{ pathto("glossary.rst") }}">Glossary</a><br>
+         <span class="linkdescr">the most important terms explained</span></p>
     </td><td width="50%">
       <p class="biglink"><a class="biglink" href="{{ pathto("search.rst") }}">Search page</a><br>
          <span class="linkdescr">search this documentation</span></p>
diff --git a/sphinx/writer.py b/sphinx/writer.py
index a034d3981..61664e29d 100644
--- a/sphinx/writer.py
+++ b/sphinx/writer.py
@@ -211,6 +211,11 @@ class HTMLTranslator(BaseTranslator):
     def visit_index(self, node):
         raise nodes.SkipNode
 
+    def visit_glossary(self, node):
+        pass
+    def depart_glossary(self, node):
+        pass
+
     # these are only handled specially in the SmartyPantsHTMLTranslator
     def visit_literal_emphasis(self, node):
         return self.visit_emphasis(node)