E. Cobham Brewer 18101897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Palatinate (4 syl.).
The province of a palatine, as the Palatinate of the Rhine, in Germany. A palatine is an officer whose court is held in the royal palace, also called a palace-greave or pfalzgraf. There were three palatine counties in Englandviz. Chester, Durham, and Lancaster, in which the count exercised a royal authority, just as supreme as though he had been the regal tenant of the palace itself