Anton Bezenšek (15 April 1854 – 11 December 1915) was a Slovene

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

, journalist,

shorthand Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed and brevity of writing as compared to longhand, a more common method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek ''st ...

expert, and lecturer, who spent most of his life in

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

. He is known as the scholar who adapted the

Gabelsberger shorthand Gabelsberger shorthand, named for its creator, is a form of shorthand previously common in Germany and Austria. Created c. 1817 by Franz Xaver Gabelsberger, it was first fully described in the 1834 textbook ''Anleitung zur deutschen Redezeichenk ...

system to the South Slavic languages. Bezenšek was born in a small village of Bezenškovo Bukovje near

Frankolovo Frankolovo () is a settlement in the Municipality of Vojnik in eastern Slovenia. It lies on the main road north of Vojnik towards Slovenske Konjice. The area is part of the traditional region of Styria. It is now included with the rest of the munic ...

, Slovenia, in what was then the

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

Duchy of Styria. He attended the

Celje First Grammar School The Celje First Grammar School ( sl, I. gimnazija v Celju) is a coeducational nondenominational state secondary general education school for students aged between 15 and 19 in Celje, Slovenia. It was the first high school built in the region, est ...

at the age of 12 and graduated with honours. In 1873 he was elected for a chairman of a school student organization, and learnt the Croatian adaptation of Gabelsberger Shorthand. Later, he entered the

University of Zagreb The University of Zagreb ( hr, Sveučilište u Zagrebu, ; la, Universitas Studiorum Zagrabiensis) is the largest Croatian university and the oldest continuously operating university in the area covering Central Europe south of Vienna and all of ...

, where he studied

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

, and

Bulgarian Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...

in the philosophy faculty. As a student, he delivered a shorthand course, which was attended by 236 people in 5 years. After graduating, Bezenšek visited

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

and

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the are ...

, obtained a teaching permission, and worked in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Slov ...

as a chief stenographer in Parliament. In his 1890 biographic notes, he expressed ideas about a common South Slavic shorthand system: "It would be of benefit to the spread of shorthand among South Slavs to establish a South-Slavic Shorthand Union, like the German or Northern Shorthand Union, ... it should have an agency of its own and should hold an annual congress once in Zagreb, once in Belgrade, once in Sofia, once in Ljubljana." Responding to an invitation from the Bulgarian government, and after being recommended by his colleague Spas Vatsov, Bezenšek moved to the recently formed

Kingdom Kingdom commonly refers to: * A monarchy ruled by a king or queen * Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy Kingdom may also refer to: Arts and media Television * ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 2007 British television drama s ...

in 1879, and worked as a chief stenographer at the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ...

. He agreed on a salary, which was lower than what he could have earned for a professorship. On 25 September 1879 he conducted the first shorthand course in Bulgaria. In 1884 one of the chief stenographer's students reported against him, and Bezenšek was fired from his job at the National Assembly, but instead of accepting proposals for a return to Slovenia and Croatia, he decided to move to Plovdiv, which was then the capital of

Eastern Rumelia Eastern Rumelia ( bg, Източна Румелия, Iztochna Rumeliya; ota, , Rumeli-i Şarkî; el, Ανατολική Ρωμυλία, Anatoliki Romylia) was an autonomous province (''oblast'' in Bulgarian, '' vilayet'' in Turkish) in the Ott ...

. From 1885 until 1905, he worked in high schools there, introducing Ethics into the curriculum, as well as applying modern methodologies for studying foreign languages—e.g. his ''New Practical Manual for Easily Learning the German Language'' ( bg, Ново практическо ръководство за лесно изучаване на немския език). Bezenšek moved to Sofia again in 1906, and stayed there till his death. He remained an active scholar, issued a lot of publications and translations, and had been a lecturer at the

Sofia University Sofia University, "St. Kliment Ohridski" at the University of Sofia, ( bg, Софийски университет „Св. Климент Охридски“, ''Sofijski universitet „Sv. Kliment Ohridski“'') is the oldest higher education i ...

from 1911. Bezenšek played a significant role for fostering the dialogue between Bulgarians and Slovenians, publishing a number of works in Slovenian on Bulgarian matters and vice versa.

Sources

See also