THE SLOVENE LANGUAGE

I’m sure you’ve heard of the Venetic theory. No?

According this theory the Slovene language has been around these parts of Europe since the ancient times.

One of its characteristics, still in use today – the dual case (in addition to the singular and plural: the two of us – midva – object or person) goes back to Proto-Indo-European languages.

The origin of the Slovene language though remains a bone of contention among linguists and historians – does it belong to the South or West Slavic languages remains a question of debate.

What we can say is that the Friezing manuscripts written in an old Slovene dialect dating back to the 10th and 11th century are truly a masterpiece. Just as the Stična manuscripts dating back to the second half of the 14th century, and the Abecedarium and Catechism written in ‘modern’ Slovene by Primož Trubar as early as in the 16th century. Not to mention the wonderful first translation of the Bible into old Slovene by Jurij Dalmatin in 1583.

When many great nations were still grappling with the Vulgate – a Latin version still in use today, our ancestors prayed and governed in Slovene.

The language’s rich beauty and complexity was masterfully displayed by one of our greatest poets – France Prešeren. His poems are still a tour de force and a match to masterpieces written by some of Europe’s finest poets.

Its force was made evident by Ivan Cankar, who masterfully wielded the Slovene language to address arising political issues of the time. And of course not to mention Jakob Aljaž, who cunningly used the power of Slovene rhetoric to buy the top of Slovenia’s highest mountain and in doing so symbolically ensured that no other than a Slovene could take the throne and rule these lands.

Yes. We take pride in our language and our forefathers and foremothers who kept is alive and kicking for thousands of years. We take pride in our ancestors who managed to hand it down to what is now a nation of two million, despite being governed and surrounded by much greater nations.

Like Trubar once said in one of his famous quotes also inscribed on a Slovene 2-euro coin ‘Stati inu obstati.’ (To Exist and Persevere).