Dictionnaire Malais-français, Volume 1...

The Dictionnaire Malais-français was authored by the French missionary and linguist Pierre Etienne Lazare Favre during the late 19th century. Published primarily to assist colonial administrators, diplomats, and scholars, the work emerged from a period of increasing European interest in the linguistic mapping of the Malay Archipelago. Favre, who spent significant time in the region, compiled this dictionary to bridge the communication gap between French-speaking explorers and the indigenous populations, serving as a critical resource for linguistic documentation during the colonial era.

The design and structure of the dictionary reflect the rigorous philological approach typical of 19th-century lexicography. Favre prioritized accessibility for his contemporaries, organizing the entries to facilitate translation while providing nuances of Malay dialects that were previously under-documented. Upon its release, the work was received as an essential scholarly contribution, providing a structured framework for the study of Malay as a trade and literary language, and it has since been preserved as a significant archival reference for historical linguistics.