An Early French Book of Wordplay

Authors

A. Ross Eckler
Faith W. Eckler

Abstract

In the Kickshaws section of the May 1979 Word Ways, Will Shortz described a 1616 book of French wordplay by Etienne Tabourot, entitled Les Bigarrures et Touches du Seigneur des Accords (The Designs and Strokes of the Lord of Harmony), hereafter denoted by B-T. This book is believed to be the first one in the world entirely devoted to recreational linguistics. Of this work one nineteenth-century reviewer has written "This is a curious collection whose author has been pleased to temper his erudition with numerous pleasantries, sometimes good, sometimes bad and often smutty."

Recommended Citation

Eckler, A. Ross and Eckler, Faith W. (1980) "An Early French Book of Wordplay," Word Ways: Vol. 13 : Iss. 2 , Article 8.
Retrieved from: https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol13/iss2/8