Matija Čop started learning foreign languages in his first years of school. He started with German, which was compulsory at the time, then in college studied ancient Greek, Latin, French and Italian. He deepened his knowledge of languages while studying literature. Driven by his desire to read in the original languages, he learned Spanish, Provençal, Portuguese, English, Polish, Russian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Albanian and Serbian, and also learnt Hebrew, Old Church Slavonic and Sanskrit. Čop earnt extra money by teaching languages and used all his earnings to buy books.
Živé naj vsi naródi,
ki hrepené dočakat' dan,
da koder sonce hodi,
prepir iz svéta bo pregnan,
da rojak
prost bo vsak,
ne vrag, le sosed bo mejak!
Niechaj żyją te narody,
Które chcą doczekać dni,
Gdy nie będzie już niezgody
Nigdzie tam, gdzie słońce lśni,
By za progiem
Nie był wrogiem
Wolny sąsiad obcej krwi!
Нека живе сви народи
који чезну да дочекају дан,
да, куда год сунце иде,
свађа из света буде прогнана,
да земљак
буде сваки слободан,
а помеђаш само сусед, не душман!
Let's drink that every nation
Will live to see that bright day's birth
When 'neath the sun's rotation
Dissent is banished from the earth,
All will be
Kinfolk free
With neighbours none in enmity.
Στην υγειά των λαών σ’ όλη τη γη,
που καρτερούν να ’ρθεί η μέρα
που κάθε διχόνοια θα χαθεί
κάτ’ απ’ του ήλιου τη σφαίρα!
Παντού γλυκιά ελευθεριά,
κι ο συνορίτης δε θα ’ναι εχθρός,
μα γείτονας καλός!
Es leben alle Völker,
die sehnend warten auf den Tag,
daß unter dieser Sonne
die Welt dem alten Streit entsag!
Frei sei dann
jedermann,
nicht Feind, nur Nachbar mehr fortan!
Vivan tutte le genti
che sperano nel giorno
quando, ove s'affacci il sol,
non ci saran più guerre,
ognun sarà
libero, amico,
non ostile il vicino!
According to Article 6 of the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia and a special law, the seventh stanza of Preseren's Zdravljica is the wording of the national anthem of the Republic of Slovenia.
In terms of form, it is a figurative poem (carmen figuratum), as the stanzas resemble the shape of a wine glass.
In March 2020, the European Commission confirmed the nomination of Prešeren's Zdravljica as a symbol of European heritage and classified the precious document among the most important monuments that bear witness to the history of the European idea and integration.
