Chop, Matia

Matia Chop was born in Zhirovnitsa in a peasant family. The son of Matia Chop Sr. and his wife Elizabeth. He graduated from high school in Ljubljana and the University of Vienna . From 1817 to 1820 worked in Ljubljana as a theologian, in the years 1820-22. - a teacher in a gymnasium in Rijeka , on the coast of Croatia. In 1822 he moved to Lviv . Until 1825 he taught classical philology at the gymnasium; in 1825-27 - it is in Lviv University . He studied Polish and local Rusyn dialects.

Returning to Ljubljana, Chop worked again at the gymnasium as a teacher and librarian. Collaborated in the Slovenian educational newspaper “Kranjske čbelice”.

In 1835, he drowned while swimming in the Sava River. Franz Precherne dedicated his memory to the poem “ Baptism at Savits ” and the elegy “In memory of Mati Chop”, and also became the author of his tombstone inscription.

One of the streets of Ljubljana is named after Chop.

Matija Chop was considered the most educated Slovene of his time, he knew nineteen languages; his interests included classical, medieval, renaissance and baroque literature. He adhered to views close to romanticism . He had a great influence on many Slovenian writers, especially on his pupil Franz Preshern. Chop actively participated in the controversy around the Slovenian alphabet and opposed the Germanophiles, who considered the Slovene language suitable only for representatives of the lower strata of society. He wrote an essay: “Abecedna vojska” (“Alphabet War”, 1833), which helped to establish the current literary language and the spelling of the Slovenes.

Chop also compiled the first “Review of Slovenian Literature”, published in 1864 by Pavel Safarik . Later, Safarik used the “Review” for his “Geschichte der südslavischen Literatur”.

• Fedora Ferluga Petronio, Jernej Kopitar - Matija Čop. Ljubljana: Filozofska fakulteta, 1996.
• Janko Kos - Matija Čop. Ljubljana: Partizanska knjiga, 1979.
• Krain's Vorzeit und Gegenwart. Krainische Literatura. Krajnska Čbelica, bukvica 1-3 .- Illyrisches Blatt 1833. Nr. 7.8. (Čopova objava Čelakovske kritike v nemškem prevodu in dostavek h kritiki)
• Slowenischer ABC-Krieg. Nr. 1-3 .- Ausserordentliche Beilage zum Illyrischen Blatt 1833.
• Nuovo Discacciamento di lettere inutili. Das ist Slowenischer ABC-Krieg. Ljubljana 1833. (Separatni odtis vseh spisov abecedne vojske iz leta 1833)
• Posmrta objava Čopovega gradiva za slovensko literarno zgodovino, pripravljeno za nove izdaje Šafarikove zgodovine slovenskega jezika in književnosti. Praga 1864.
• Ivan Kunšič: Doneski k zgodovini književne zveze med Čehi in Slovenci. Zbornik Slovenske Matice. Ljubljana 1899. (Objava Čopovih pisem Šafariku)
• Avgust Žigon: Nekoliko stvari izpod Čopovega in Prešernovega peresa. Zbornik Slovenske Matice. Ljubljana 1903. (Objava Čopovih pisem Šafariku in Kopitarju)
• Luka Pintar: Različne korespondence. Zbornik Slovenske Matice. Ljubljana 1904. (Objava Čopovih pisem Ramovšku, Čelakovskemu, Prešernu)
• Avgust Žigon: Še nekaj Čopovega. Carniola 1910.
• Fran Zimmemann: Nova Zhopova pisma. Vede 1914. (Objava Čopovih pisem Saviu)
• France Ilešič: Iz Vrazove literarne zapuščine. Časopis za zgodovino in narodopisje 1927. (Objava Čopovega pisma Vrazu)
• France Kidrič: Dvoje Čopovih pisem Kopitarju, ocena Čbelice IV iz 1834 in drugo. Časopis za slovenski jezik, književnost in zgodovino 1928.
• Stanislaw Rospond: Sloweniec Matija Čop o Adamie Mickiewicze. Prace Polskiego Towarzystva dla badan Europy Wschodniej i Bliskiego Wschodu, IV. Krakow 1933–1934.
• France Kidrič. Čop Matija. // Slovenski biografski leksikon .
• Matija Čop 1797–1835. Jesenice: Muzej Jesenice, 1997.
• Janko Kos. Matija Čop. Ljubljana: Partizanska knjiga, 1979.
• Eva Kodrič-Dačić. Matija Čop in njegov prispevek k slovenskemu bibliotekarstvu. Knjižnica 41 / 2-3 (1997) ..
• Ignac Kamenik. Matija Čop - bibliotekar. Knjižnica 11 / 1-4 (1967).

• article on Slovenian literature on the FEB website
• article about the Slovenian literature in the Literary Encyclopedia (inaccessible link)