Vodnik, who was a priest, was one of the most important 19^th century Slovenians. He was the first acclaimed poets to write in Slovenian and is the author of the first grammar book in Slovenian and one of the first Slovenian collections of poetry. Vodnik also wrote the first Slovenian cookbook and manual for midwives. His work included important translations into Slovenian from Latin, German, French, Italian, and Greek as well as from Slovenian to Latin and German.