What is "PALSGR"?

Question

PALSGR seems to be some piece of literature published in the year 1530, but I have no clue what it is exactly. Many words from the english language were first used in it.

Answer 1

A bit of Googling learns me that it's an abbreviation for "Palsgrave", meaning the English-French dictionary by John Palsgrave : "L'esclarcissement de la language Francoyse". It was published in 1530, and contains 18,890 words. It contains a section on French grammar, and then a bilingual vocabulary grouped by parts of speech.

And Wikipedia adds :

"John Palsgrave (around 1480 – 1554) was a priest of Henry VIII of England's court."

"He composed "L'esclarcissement de la langue francoyse" (printed in 1530 in London and dedicated to Henry VIII). This book — written in English despite its French title — is said to be the first grammar of the French language. Its purpose was to help Englishmen who wanted to learn French."

"It is also useful for understanding the history of the English language." ("John Palsgrave", Wikipedia)

"When Henry VIII charged John Palsgrave with teaching his sister French, there were no dictionaries or grammars of either French or English. In "Lesclarcissement de la langue francoyse" , a vast work of over 1000 pages, this brilliant priest and linguist, with a dramatist's eye for contemporary life and an ear for colloquial idiom, provided the first bilingual dictionary and contrastive grammar of the two languages."

"John Palsgrave as Renaissance Linguist", Oxford Uiversity Press : http://www.us.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Linguistics/SemanticsPragmaticsPhilosophyofL/?view=usa&ci=9780198235057

Answer 2

I don't know if this will answer your question.

Obsolete Dutch paltsgrave, from Middle Dutch palsgrve, palsgrve : pals, palatine (from Vulgar Latin *palantia, palace, from Latin paltia; see palace) + Middle Dutch grve, grve, count.

Noun 1. palsgrave
- (Middle Ages) the lord of a palatinate who exercised sovereign powers over his lands palatine noble, nobleman, Lord
- a titled peer of the realm Dark Ages, Middle Ages
- the period of history between classical antiquity and the Italian Renaissance.

Addition: Erik is probably right..:-))

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