Early history '', dating from the late 10th or the early 11th century, are considered the oldest documents in Slovene. Like all
Slavic languages, Slovene traces its roots to the same proto-Slavic group of languages that produced
Old Church Slavonic. The earliest known examples of a distinct, written dialect connected to Slovene are from the
Freising manuscripts, known in Slovene as . The consensus estimate of their date of origin is between 972 and 1039 CE (most likely before 1000). These religious writings are among the oldest surviving manuscripts in any Slavic language. The
Freising manuscripts are a record of a proto-Slovene that was spoken in a more scattered territory than modern Slovene, which included most of the present-day Austrian states of
Carinthia and
Styria, as well as
East Tyrol, the
Val Pusteria in
South Tyrol, and some areas of
Upper and
Lower Austria. Between the 9th and 12th century, proto-Slovene spread into northern
Istria and in the areas around
Trieste. By the 15th century, most of the northern areas were gradually
Germanized: The northern border of the Slovene-speaking territory stabilized on the line going from north of
Klagenfurt to south of
Villach and east of
Hermagor in Carinthia, while in Styria it was more or less identical with the current Austrian-Slovenian border. This linguistic border remained almost unchanged until the late 19th century, when a second process of Germanization took place, mostly in Carinthia. During most of the Middle Ages, Slovene was a vernacular language of the peasantry, although it was also spoken in most of the towns on Slovenian territory, together with German or Italian. Although during this time German emerged as the spoken language of the nobility, Slovene had some role in the courtly life of the Carinthian, Carniolan, and Styrian nobility as well. This is proved by the survival of certain ritual formulas in Slovene (such as the ritual installation of the Dukes of Carinthia). The words ('God be With You, Queen Venus!'), with which
Bernhard von Spanheim greeted the poet
Ulrich von Liechtenstein, who was travelling around Europe in guise of Venus, upon his arrival in Carinthia in 1227 (or 1238), is another example of some level of Slovene knowledge among high nobility in the region. The first printed Slovene words, (meaning 'old justice' or 'old laws'), appeared in 1515 in
Vienna in a poem of the German mercenaries who suppressed the
Slovene peasant revolt: the term was presented as the peasants' motto and battle cry. Standard Slovene emerged in the second half of the 16th century, thanks to the works of Slovene Lutheran authors, who were active during the
Protestant Reformation. The most prominent authors from this period are
Primož Trubar, who wrote the first books in Slovene;
Adam Bohorič, the author of the first Slovene grammar; and
Jurij Dalmatin, who translated the entire
Bible into Slovene. From the high Middle Ages up to the dissolution of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918, in the territory of present-day Slovenia,
German was the language of the elite, and Slovene was the language of the common people. During this period, German had a strong influence on Slovene; many
Germanisms are preserved in contemporary colloquial Slovene. Many Slovene
scientists before the 1920s also wrote in foreign languages, mostly German, which was the
lingua franca of science throughout
Central Europe at the time.
Recent history During the rise of
Romantic nationalism in the 19th century, the cultural movements of
Illyrism and
Pan-Slavism brought words from
Serbo-Croatian, specifically Croatian dialects, and
Czech into standard Slovene, mostly to replace words previously borrowed from
German. Most of these innovations have remained, although some were dropped in later development. In the second half of the 19th century, many nationalist authors made an abundant use of Serbo-Croatian vocabulary but adapted it to Slovene orthography: among them were
Fran Levstik and
Josip Jurčič, who wrote the first novel in Slovene in 1866. This tendency was reversed in the
Fin de siècle period by the first generation of modernist Slovene authors (most notably the writer
Ivan Cankar), who resorted to a more purist and locally derived language without excessive Serbo-Croatian borrowings. During the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia in the 1920s and 1930s, the influence of Serbo-Croatian increased again. This was opposed by the younger generations of Slovene authors and intellectuals; among the fiercest opponents of an excessive Serbo-Croatian influence on Slovene were the intellectuals associated with the leftist journal
Sodobnost, as well as some younger
Catholic activists and authors. After 1945, numerous Serbo-Croatian words that had been used in the previous decades were dropped. The result was that a Slovene text from the 1910s is frequently closer to modern Slovene than a text from the 1920s and 1930s. Between 1920 and 1941, the official language of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was defined as "Serbo-Croato-Slovene", which was in practice merely Serbo-Croatian. In Slovenia, however, Slovene remained in use in education and administration. Many state institutions used only Serbo-Croatian, and a Slovene–Serbo-Croatian bilingualism was applied in many spheres of public life in Slovenia. For example, at post offices, on railways, and in administrative offices, Serbo-Croatian was used alongside Slovene. However, state employees were expected to be able to speak Slovene in Slovenia. During the same time, western Slovenia (the
Slovenian Littoral and the western districts of
Inner Carniola) was under Italian administration and subjected to a violent policy of
Fascist Italianization; the same policy was applied to Slovene speakers in
Venetian Slovenia,
Gorizia, and
Trieste. Between 1923 and 1943, all public use of Slovene in these territories was strictly prohibited, and Slovene-language activists were persecuted by the state. After the
Carinthian Plebiscite of 1920, a less severe policy of
Germanization took place in the Slovene-speaking areas of southern
Carinthia which remained under Austrian administration. After the
Anschluss of 1938, the use of Slovene was strictly forbidden in Carinthia as well. This accelerated a process of
language shift in Carinthia, which continued throughout the second half of the 20th century: according to the Austro-Hungarian census of 1910, around 21% of inhabitants of Carinthia spoke Slovene in their daily communication; by 1951, this figure had dropped to less than 10%, and by 2001 to a mere 2.8%. During
World War II, Slovenia was divided among the
Axis powers of
Fascist Italy,
Nazi Germany, and
Hungary. Each of the occupying powers tried to either discourage or entirely suppress Slovene. Following World War II, Slovenia became part of the
Federal Yugoslavia. While there was no official language at federal level, Serbo-Croatian dominated as prestige dialect in all aspects whereas Slovene remained confined to now
federal Slovenia where it was made an official language recognized once again. In the territory of Slovenia, it was commonly used in almost all areas of public life. One important exception was the
Yugoslav army, where Serbo-Croatian was used exclusively, even in Slovenia. National independence has further fortified the language: since 1991, when Slovenia gained independence, Slovene has been used as an official language in all areas of public life. In 2004, it became one of the official languages of the European Union upon the admission of Slovenia. Nonetheless, the post-breakup influence of Serbo-Croatian on Slovene continued to a lesser extent, most prominently in
slang in
colloquial language.
Joža Mahnič, a literary historian and president of the publishing house , said in February 2008 that Slovene is a language rich enough to express everything, including the most sophisticated and specialised texts. In February 2010,
Janez Dular, a prominent Slovene linguist, commented that, although Slovene is not an endangered language, its scope has been shrinking, especially in science and higher education. == Geographic distribution ==