The definition you provided is a perfect explanation of what an apostille is (also written "appostille"). Farouqi suggests
إضافة، حاشـية، تحشـية، مذكرة، ملاحظة، تعليق، أو شرح هامشي

I get the feeling that Mr. Farouqi never actually saw an apostille, because it is none of the above.

An apostille is a document issued by a high-level authority (in Texas, it is issued by the Office of the Secretary of State) attesting to the genuinness of an attached document, which is typically an important document (the last one one I translated was for articles of organization of a limited liability company.) The apostille begins with the word "CERTIFIED" at the top and refers to itself as a "certificate." It even carries a certificate number.

Ultimately, it functions very much like a notarization.

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Note added at 1 day 4 hrs 38 mins (2005-03-31 07:16:25 GMT)
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Take a look at this page on the website of the Secretary of State of the State of Texas:

http://www.sos.state.tx.us/authinfo.shtml

Notice how \"apostille\" and \"certificate\" are not only used interchangeably, but also used together, separated by a slash. For example, the form used to request an apostille is called \"Form to Request an Official Certificate/Apostille on a County Official.\"

Here is a sample of an apostille from the State of Delaware:

http://www.offshore-fox.com/offshore-corporations/offshore_c...