Peter Dajnko

Peter Dajnko (april 23 1787 - february 22 1873) was a Slovenian priest, author and linguist, known primarily as the inventor of an inventive proposal for the writing system for the Slovenian language - the so called Dajnko alphabet or "dajnčica".

He was born in village of Črešnjevci near the town of Gornja Radgona, in what was then the Duchy of Styria in the Habsburg Monarchy. After finishing high school in Maribor, he studied theology and philosophy at the University of Graz, where he graduated in 1814.

In 1824 he wrote a book in German, called "Lehrbuch der windischen Sprache" or "Textbook for the Slovenian language". In it, he proposed the adoption of a new alphabet for Slovenian, which was to replace the traditional Bohorič alphabet, used since the late 16th century. According to Dajnko, the old script had shown clear deficiencies, since it did not fit well with the phonetic structure of Slovenian. Dajnko's somehow odd proposal (it included several characters not found in the Latin script), created a long lasting controversy, which became known as the "črkarska pravda" or the "Character War". Among Dajnko's most fierce opponents were the philologist Matija Čop and the poet France Prešeren, while he did enjoy some initial support from the linguist Jernej Kopitar. In 1825, Franc Serafin Metelko came out with a similar proposal, further complicating the issue.

After 1839 his proposal became obsolete with the adoption of a slightly modified version of Gaj's Latin alphabet as the new Slovenian script. Dajnko nevertheless continued to use his own alphabet in all his later Slovene books.

Dajnko was also a professional beekeeper and introduced several innovations in apiculture, following the example of his fellow countryman Anton Janša.

He died in the town of Velika Nedelja in his native Lower Styria.

ee also

*Slovene alphabet
*History of Slovenia
*Culture of Slovenia
*Language reform

References

*Enciklopedija Slovenije, Volume II, Article: "Dajnko, Peter" (Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga, 1988).