Charles Fontaine (Paris 1514-post 1564), poet and Lyonese adoption played a significant role in the literary landscape of his time. Our intervention in this colloquium (GRAC-Lyon II, 5 and 6 June 2009) aims to study the vocabulary of our writer, who, to our knowledge, has not yet benefited from an in-depth lexical study. To this end, we carried out our lexical research on the basis of the 1555 Lyon edition (at Thibauld Payan). Our lexical glands will be based on the FEW, the dates of which will be updated, if necessary, by those of the CFPP. Out of a total of approximately 500 passages studied randomly, a considerable number, about 190 lexical units, has attracted our attention. As a corollary, we have been able to quantify the interest that Edmond Huguet actually brought to our author in the counting of four of his works. Our research, although ad hoc and not exhaustive, demonstrates the major interest of this source in the synchrony of pre-classic French (1500-1650). The following prolegomens aim to raise the reader’s awareness of the complexity and surprising richness of the text and to show how much a philological approach to this source is essential for the rediscovery of our writer. The final summary will summarise the salient traits of vocabulary.