Maks Pleteršnik

Maks Pleteršnik (3 December 1840–13 September 1923) was a Slovene philologist, linguist, and lexicographer. Born in Pišece, he dedicated his life to the study and promotion of the Slovenian language and became the editor of an influential Slovene-German dictionary. Beyond his work in lexicography, Pleteršnik was an educator, translator, and participant in various Slovenian cultural and academic institutions. He died in his hometown of Pišece.

Life Pleteršnik was born in Pišece. His parents were Franc, a teacher, and Terezija Hriber. He had one brother and two sisters. After completing his primary education in Pišece, Pleteršnik attended the grammar school in Celje between 1851 and 1859. Thereafter, he studied classical philology under Bonitz and Slavic studies under Franc Miklošič in Vienna. During this period, Pleteršnik was introduced to the foundational principles of lexicography, assisting Miklošič with the corrections for the Lexicon palaeoslovenico-graeco-latinum, emendatum auctum ("Lexicon (dictionary) of Old Slovene with Greek and Latin, corrected and expanded") between 1862 and 1865. Pleteršnik concluded his studies in 1863, being examined in Latin, Greek, and Slovene for teaching in schools with German, Slovenian, or Serbo-Croatian as the language of instruction.

Works After graduating from high school, Pleteršnik was a substitute teacher at several grammar schools, teaching classical languages, German, and Slovene (at that time only as a subject) at grammar schools in Maribor (until September 1864) and later in Celje. In 1865, he received a decree for Kranj, but soon left for Gorizia, where he stayed for two years. He then taught in Trieste from 1867 to 1871, after which he went to Ljubljana, where he was employed full-time for the first time, and remained there until his retirement in 1900. After his retirement, he visited his homestead in Pišece a lot. For his 37 years of service as a professor, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of Franz Joseph. In 1913, he retired from his original Illyrianism and confirmed the Slovene linguistic and national independence. He was also the co-author of the Latin-Slovene dictionary for the third and fourth grammar school classes, based on the Latin-German dictionary by J. A. Rozek (1882). he was on the board of the Dramatic Society, and from 1899, he was a corresponding member of the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts in Zagreb.

Commemoration In 1933, on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Maks Pleteršnik's passing, the Slovenian Matica unveiled a memorial plaque at his house. Moreover, to commemorate the 150th anniversary of his birth, the locals of Pišece erected a pillar in his honor. Pleteršnik's childhood home underwent restoration in 1994, coinciding with a gathering of Slavists in Krško to mark the centenary of his dictionary, organized under the aegis of the Slovenian Slavic Association. The following year, Pišece hosted its inaugural symposium, which featured a round table discussion on lexicography. Since then, Pišece has regularly been the venue for academic gatherings and events in Pleteršnik's honor on 13 September, the anniversary of Pleteršnik's death.

The Maks Pleteršnik Primary School in Pišece is named after him. In addition to the Knight's Cross, he was also awarded the Order of St. Sava, 3rd degree.

A biographical novel about Pleteršnik, titled Maks Pleteršnik: A Week with a Lexicographer , was published by Rudi Mlinar in 2018 by the Celje Hermagoras Society. A year later, an audio recording of this novel was also published by the Association of the Blind and Visually Impaired of Slovenia.