mentioning a term, but not linking to it

We do have the template {{lang}} which is meant for that purpose. I suppose we could write a module that is meant as a kind of "language utility module", and move tag_text into that? I don't know what to call it though. Module:language utilities maybe?

The template just tags, but I meant something that can handle translit and gloss too.

What about Module:utilities? Utilities that are for all languages. And for language-specific functions, we would have xx-utilities, like Module:la-utilities.

You do realise we have a whole category for utility modules? Putting it all into one module is too much...

Sorry, I don't understand. I meant lets put functions that are not language-specific (i.e. tag_text, translit(), is there any more?) in Module:utilities, a title similar to the existing language-specific modules, like la-utilities. Actually I just edited the title you proposed, "language utilities", well this is a dictionary, utilities are supposed to be about languages!

Not necessarily. There are lots of other things besides languages that utilities could be for. Like scripts, or families, or inflection tables or etymologies... you get the idea.

But scripts, families, inflection tables and etymologies are still about languages! What about "term utilities", which is more specific and codes about scripts, families, ... won't make the module too big?