Janez Vesel (12 September 1798 – 26 March 1884), known by his pen name Jovan Koseski (Slovene conventions also include the names Jovan Vesel – Koseski and, less often, Janez Vesel – Koseski or Ivan Vesel – Koseski[M.P. 1898. "Ivan Vesel-Koseski, slovenski pesnik" Dom in svet 11(23).]) was a Slovenes lawyer and poet.
Life and work
Vesel was born in Gorenje (now part of
Spodnje Koseze) in the Duchy of Carniola in the Habsburg monarchy (now in
Slovenia) and baptized
Johannes Vesseu.
He studied law in
Graz and
Vienna and worked in
Trieste for most of his professional life. In his student years, he mostly wrote in
German language. In 1818, his
sonnet Potažba (The Comfort) was the first
sonnet ever printed in
Slovene language. No further works by Koseski are known until 1844, when he published his
ode Slovenja Caru Ferdinandu (Slovenia to Emperor Ferdinand), dedicated to Emperor Ferdinand. The poem where he describes the history of the
Slovene Lands since the
Ancient Rome times is widely regarded as his best work. Afterwards, he continued writing and also translating poetry.
Vesel was a grandfather of the Slovenian mountaineer and author
Julius Kugy. He died in Trieste.
The word Slovenija
Vesel's 1844 ode was long considered the earliest known printed use of the word Slovenija 'Slovenia', at the time referring to the
Slovene Lands. In the early 1990s, it was found that the word was already printed in 1841 in the book Drevnie i nynešnie Slovene (The Ancient and Modern Slovenes) by the Russian writer
Yuriy Venelin.
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