Editing Slovene language (section)

===Early history===
[[File:Brižinski spomeniki 3.png|thumb|left|The ''[[Freising manuscripts]]'', 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 {{lang|sl|Brižinski spomeniki}}. 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 (state)|Carinthia]] and [[Styria]], as well as [[East Tyrol]], the [[Val Pusteria]] in [[South Tyrol]], and some areas of [[Upper Austria|Upper]] and [[Lower Austria]].<ref>Bogo Grafenauer, ''Karantanija: izbrane razprave in članki'' (Ljubljana: Slovenska matica, 2000)</ref>

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 [[Germanization|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-Pressegger See|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 {{lang|sl|Buge waz primi, gralva Venus!}} ('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),<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.ff.uni-lj.si/publikacije/jis/lat1/038/55c01.htm |title=Od koroskega gralva 1238 do rezijanskega krajaua 1986 |language=sl |first=Milko |last=Matičetov |year=1993 |issue=5 |journal=Jezik in slovstvo [Language and Literature] |publisher=Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061107072740/http://www.ff.uni-lj.si/publikacije/jis/lat1/038/55c01.htm |archive-date=7 November 2006 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> is another example of some level of Slovene knowledge among high nobility in the region.<ref>{{cite book |chapter-url=http://www.vlada.si/fileadmin/dokumenti/Slovenija_doc/O_slovenskem_jeziku_novo.pdf |chapter=Sounds and letters |title=On Slovene Language |author=Kalin Golob, Monika |author2=Komac, Nataša |author3=Logar, Nataša |editor=Žnidarko, Mito |publisher=European Parliament Information Office for Slovenia, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, Government Office for European Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia |year=2007 |isbn=978-92-823-2350-2 |page=33 |access-date=2 May 2015 |archive-date=11 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011115406/http://www.vlada.si/fileadmin/dokumenti/Slovenija_doc/O_slovenskem_jeziku_novo.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The first printed Slovene words, {{lang|sl|stara pravda}} (meaning 'old justice' or 'old laws'), appeared in 1515 in [[Vienna]] in a poem of the German mercenaries who suppressed the [[Slovene peasant revolt of 1515|Slovene peasant revolt]]: the term was presented as the peasants' motto and battle cry.<ref name="Cvirn2000">{{cite book |title=Ilustrirana zgodovina Slovencev |language=sl |trans-title=The Illustrated History of the Slovenes |chapter=Slovenski kmečki upor |trans-chapter=The Slovene Peasant Revolt |year=2000 |first=Peter |last=Štih |editor-first=Marko |editor-last=Vidic |publisher=Mladinska knjiga |isbn=86-11-15664-1 |page=142}}</ref> 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 language|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 [[Germanization|Germanisms]] are preserved in contemporary colloquial Slovene. Many Slovene [[scientist]]s before the 1920s also wrote in foreign languages, mostly German, which was the ''[[lingua franca]]'' of science throughout [[Central Europe]] at the time.