The glossaries are intended to keep consistency in the terms used for translation and as a reference for translators.
The recommended way to work with the glossaries is with the source since the glossary is still being heavily revised.
Currently the source is stored on the Gnome CVS server and can be found here.
If you wish to check it out use gnome-i18n/glossary as the module name (i.e. 'cvs co gnome-i18n/glossary').
If there isn't already a lang.po then you can start a new language fairly easily.
Currently the English source is stored in a .csv file as this can be easily imported into a spreadsheet for updating and can be exported to numerous formats.
If you want to update the English term list then edit the .csv file.
If you want to edit your language you need to first update the english glossary.pot file from the .csv file and then use msgmerge to merge in the changes.
Contact michael.twomey@sun.com if you have any questions on the glossary.