Maks Pleteršnik was born on 3 December 1840 in Pišece. After finishing public school in his hometown, he attended grammar school in Celje and studied classical linguistics and Slavonic studies in Vienna. He was diligent and always one of the best students. After finishing his studies (27 July 1863), he was appointed as a substitute in a grammar school in Maribor (12 October 1863) and in Celje (30 September 1864). He started to work in Kranj (3 July 1865), but already on 11 September he was ordered to be moved to the newly established position for the Slovene language in a grammar school in Gorica. From there he was moved to Trieste (24 July 1867). 0n 11 July 1871 he started work in a grammar school in Ljubljana after his own wish, where he stayed until he was retired (4 August 1900). He was highly appreciated and respected among students. When he retired, he was honoured with the knight cross of the Franz Joseph order of knighthood. He also joined the pilgrimage to the pope in Rome. He always liked to return to Pišece. After retirement, he was coming here more often. He arranged his birth house nicely and worked hard on the property together with his servants. He permanently moved back to his beloved hometown Pišece only one year before his death. He was a model of a good Christian to his fellow villagers from Pišece. He was coming to the St. Michael’s church in the centre of Pišece every Sunday and was also singing in the church choir. He died on 13 September 1923. His solemn funeral (15 September 1923) gathered many people who highly appreciated the well-read and modest scholar. In 1933, Slovenska matica raised a memorial plaque at his house of birth ten years after his death in his honour. Today, the primary school in Pišece is named after him. He is well-known in the history of Slovene linguistics for his Slovene-German dictionary. The first part of the dictionary was issued in 1894 and the second part already in the beginning of the year 1895, financed by Anton Alojzij Wolf, the bishop in Ljubljana. This is why the dictionary was also named the Wolf dictionary in the past. Maks Pleteršnik was born in Pišece, he left his hometown for studies and for work, and finally returned home to die. The following lines are written on his tombstone at the cemetery in Pišece: "He gave a treasure to his nation; he showed them the richness of the Slovene language!"
