Slovenians

Slovenians, a branch of the south Slavonic stock to which also the Serbs (Servians) and Croats belong. The Slovenians are found mainly in Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, and adjoining parts of Hungary, and number in all about 1,250,000. They are sometimes called Winds or Wends, though distinct from the Wends (q.v.) of north and east Germany. They have been subject to the House of Hapsburg since the 8th century. There is not much literature in the native speech apart from the 'Freising Fragments' (forms of confession and a sermon), dating from the 10th century, and 16th-century translations of the Bible, until we come to the end of the 18th century. Since the revival of the language which then took place the principal writers have been the poet-philologist Vodnik (1758-1819), the poets Preseren (1800-49) and Vesel-Koseski, the journalists Bleiweiss and Janecz. See SLAVS.