Matej Cigale (2 September 1819 – 20 April 1889) was a Slovene lawyer, linguist, and editor. He was one of the most influential 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 ...

s of the 19th century,Suhadolnik, Stane. 1988. "Matej Cigale." ''Enciklopedija Slovenije'', vol. 2, p. 65. Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga. particularly notable for his

lexicographical Lexicography is the study of lexicons, and is divided into two separate academic disciplines. It is the art of compiling dictionaries. * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries. * Theoreti ...

and

grammar In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structure, structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clause (linguistics), clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraint ...

work.

Biography

Cigale was born on 2 September 1819 in the village of

Lome Lome may refer to: Places * Lomé, the capital and largest city of Togo * Lome (woreda), a woreda in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia * Lome, Slovenia, a dispersed settlement in the Municipality of Idrija in the Inner Carniola region Other uses * Lom ...

. He attended primary school in Črni Vrh until 1830 and high school in

Gorizia Gorizia (; sl, Gorica , colloquially 'old Gorizia' to distinguish it from Nova Gorica; fur, label= Standard Friulian, Gurize, fur, label= Southeastern Friulian, Guriza; vec, label= Bisiacco, Gorisia; german: Görz ; obsolete English ''Gorit ...

until 1841. He then studied theology in Ljubljana and law in

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...

and

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, where he graduated in 1846. He served as an trainee judge in Gorizia until 1847, and then took the exam for judges in January 1848. He gave up his position as a civil servant, and served as the secretary of the Slovenian Society ( sl, Slovensko društvo) and editor of the newspaper ''Slovenija'' in Ljubljana from 1 July 1848 to mid-September 1849. He returned to Vienna in 1850, where he worked until his death in the editorship of the state legal code, achieving the rank of government adviser. Cigale died on 20 April 1889 in Vienna.

Work

In 1853, Cigale edited the Slovenian part of the legal terminology work ''Juridisch-politische Terminologie für die slavischen Sprachen Österreichs'' and prepared Anton Mažgon and Jožef Krajnc's translation of the general civil code for publication. With this and a number of articles published in ''Slovenski pravnik'', Cigale created the basis for Slovene legal terminology and technical terminology in general. As an expert reviewer, he also had an influence on the language used in Slovene school textbooks. He dealt with the issue of standard Slovene throughout his career. He published articles on Slovene orthography, declension, and morphology in various newspapers (e.g., ''Slovenski glasnik'', ''Novice''). Because of his experience with the language and terminology, he was entrusted with the editorship of Anton Aloys Wolf's German–Slovene dictionary. After receiving the manuscript for the dictionary in 1854, which had been compiled over the course of 50 years, Cigale revised and supplemented it so that it was ready for publication by 1860. This was the first major printed Slovenian dictionary. As a supplement to the dictionary he also prepared a work titled ''Znanstveno terminologijo s posebnim ozirom na srednja učilišča'' (Scientific Terminology with a Special Emphasis on Secondary Schools).

Legacy

Cigale Street ( sl, Cigaletova ulica) in Ljubljana is named after Cigale.Valenčič, Vlado. 1989. ''Zgodovina ljubljanskih uličnih imen.'' Ljubljana: Zgodovinski arhiv Ljubljana, p. 118.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cigale, Matej 1819 births 1889 deaths Slovenian lexicographers Carniolan philologists University of Graz alumni University of Vienna alumni Ethnic Slovene people Grammarians from Carniola People from the Municipality of Idrija 19th-century lexicographers