1610s, "journalist," from gazette (n.) + -eer. Meaning "geographical dictionary" is from 1704, from Laurence Eachard's 1693 geographical handbook for journalists, "The Ga [..]

A geographical dictionary which lists and describes places. Often contains a place's alternate names, time period when the name was in use, parent jurisdictions, and geographic location. 

An archaic term for a newspaper reporter. Early newspapers were called gazettes.

A separately published dictionary of geographic names that gives the location of each entry (example: The Columbia Gazetteer of the World). Also, an index of the names of the places and geographic fea [..]

In the context of metadata, a gazetteer is a very specific type of flat controlled vocabulary - a geographic term list. Related GuideSynonyms: Gazetteers

(n) a journalist who writes for a gazette(n) a geographical dictionary (as at the back of an atlas)

Source: http://www.eurogeographics.org/Projects/GDDD/GDDD/lists/products.htm#52

A database used to translate between different representations of geospatial references, such as place names and geographic coordinates.

A geographical dictionary.

A geographic index

A gazetteer maps indirect geo reference data on direct geo reference data. For instance, it represents placed names on geographic coordinates.