Background
Janežič was born in a peasant family in the village of Lessach (Slovene: Leše) near Saint Jakob im Rosental (Slovene: Št Jakob v Rožu) in Carinthia.
Janežič was born in a peasant family in the village of Lessach (Slovene: Leše) near Saint Jakob im Rosental (Slovene: Št Jakob v Rožu) in Carinthia.
He attended the grammar school in Klagenfurt.
In 1848, when Slovene was introduced in school, Janežič was employed as professor of Slovene at the Klagenfurt lyceum. In 1851 he began to study linguistics and Slavic philology at the University of Vienna under the supervision of Franc Miklošič. In 1854 he returned to Klagenfurt, where he continued to teach Slovene, German, and history at the lyceum until 1866 when he resigned because of illness.
He died three years later in Klagenfurt, where he was also buried.
In the 1870s, he was reburied in his local parish of Saint Jakob.