Palsgrave in Perspective

Abstract

Abstract In the preceding chapters we have closely studied Palsgrave’s vocabulists, their word lists, their headword structure, the French equivalents, the verb illustrations, and the interlemmatic relations. We have compared his linguistic descriptions and his lexicographical methods of presentation with earlier and contemporary works in order to show where he stays within lexicographical practice as it had developed by the early sixteenth century and where he goes beyond it. The insights gained are little short of startling. John Palsgrave was a teacher and a scholar who understood his mother tongue profoundly, who had a superb command of French, and beyond English and French a remarkable grasp of the nature of language and language pedagogy.