Lexique comparé de la langue de Molière et des écrivains du XVIIe siècle

A philological lexicon gathers and analyzes the expressions and syntactic turns used by Molière and other seventeenth-century writers, recording each occurrence to determine habitual usage and intention. The author compares these examples with contemporaries and earlier sources, traces origins back to popular speech and Latin roots, and discusses obscure points of grammar and usage. Interspersed with critical commentary, the work challenges pedantic purism, argues for restoring certain traditional forms retained by the people, and aims to clarify why particular choices were legitimate within the historical development of French style.