Beekes

Robert Stephen Paul Beekes (; 2 September 1937 – 21 September 2017) was a Dutch linguist who was emeritus professor of Comparative Indo-European Linguistics at Leiden University and an author of many monographs on the Proto-Indo-European language.

Scholarly work

One of his most well-known books is ''Comparative Indo-European Linguistics: An Introduction'', a standard handbook on Proto-Indo-European that treats the area of linguistic reconstruction thoroughly but also features cultural reconstruction and comparative linguistic methods in general.

Beekes was also a co-author, with L. Bouke van der Meer, of ''De Etrusken spreken'' (1991). He advocated the Asia Minor theory to explain the Etruscans' origin. In 1993, he was elected member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.

He also did work on Pre-Greek, the (non-Indo-European) language that was spoken in Greece before Greek, possibly around 2000 BC. Since this language was not written, Beekes obtained his information from many words in Classical Greek that show a non-Greek structure and development.Etymological Dictionary of Greek – Pre-Greek Loanwords in Greek

Publications (selection)

Monographs

* ''The Development of the Proto-Indo-European Laryngeals in Greek''. The Hague–Paris: Mouton, 1969.
* ''The Origins of the Indo-European Nominal Inflection''. Innsbruck: IBS, 1985.
* ''A Grammar of Gatha-Avestan''. Leiden: Brill, 1988.
* ''Vergelijkende taalwetenschap. Een inleiding in de vergelijkende Indo-europese taalwetenschap''. Amsterdam: Het Spectrum, 1990.
** English translation: ''Comparative Indo-European Linguistics: An Introduction'', trans. UvA Vertalers & Paul Gabriner. Amsterdam: Benjamins, 1995; second edition revised and corrected by Michiel de Vaan, 2011.
* with L. Bouke van der Meer, ''De Etrusken spreken''. Muiderberg: Coutinho, 1991.
* ''The Origin of the Etruscans''. Amsterdam: Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, 2003.

''Etymological Dictionary of Greek''
2 vols. Leiden: Brill, 2009.
* ''Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon'', Leiden: Brill, 2014. (Edited by Stefan Norbruis.)

Edited volumes

* ''Rekonstruktion und relative Chronologie. Akten der VIII. Fachtagung der Indogermanischen Gesellschaft, Leiden, 31. August – 4. September 1987'', ed. Robert S. P. Beekes. Innsbruck: Institut für Sprachwissenschaft, 1992.

Articles

see Memorial Website for Robert Beekes: https://www.robertbeekes.nl/bibliography/
* "''Mṓnukhes híppoi''", ''Orbis'' 20 (1971): 138–142.
* "H₂O", ''Die Sprache'' 18 (1972): 11–31.
* "The nominative of the hysterodynamic noun-inflection", ''Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung'' 86 (1972): 30–63.
* "The proterodynamic perfect", ''Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung'' 87 (1973): 86–98.
* "Two notes on PIE stems in dentals", ''Historische Grammatik des Griechischen: Laut- und Formenlehre'', ed. Helmut Rix. Darmstadt: 1975, pp. 9–14.
* "Intervocalic laryngeal in Gatha-Avestan", ''Bono Homini Donum: Essays in Historical Linguistics, in Memory of J. Alexander Kerns'', eds. Yoël L. Arbeitman & Allan R. Bomhard. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1981, pp. 47–64.
* "The disyllabic reduplication of the Sanskrit intensives", ''Münchener Studien zur Sprachwissenschaft'' 40 (1981): 19–25.
* "The subjunctive endings of Indo-Iranian", '' Indo-Iranian Journal'' 23 (1981): 21–27
* "GAv. ''må'', the PIE word for 'moon, month', and the perfect participle", '' Journal of Indo-European Studies'' 10 (1982): 53–64.
* "On laryngeals and pronouns", ''Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung'' 96 (1983): 200–232.
* "PIE 'sun'", ''Münchener Studien zur Sprachwissenschaft'' 43 (1984): 5–8.
* "On Indo-European 'wine'", ''Münchener Studien zur Sprachwissenschaft'' 80 (1987): 21–6.
* "The origin of the PIE pronominal inflection", ''A Festschrift in honour of E. C. Polomé'', eds. M. A. Jazayery & W. Winter. NY: de Gruyter, 1987, pp. 73–88.
* "The word for 'four' in PIE", ''Journal of Indo-European Studies'' 15 (1987): 215–19.
* "Laryngeal developments: A survey", ''Die Laryngaltheorie und die Rekonstruktion des indogermanischen Laut- und Formensystems'', ed. Alfred Bammesberger. Heidelberg: Carl Winter, 1988, pp. 59–105.
* "PIE ''RHC'' – in Greek and other languages", '' Indogermanische Forschungen'' 93 (1988): 22–45.
* "The genitive singular of the pronoun in Germanic and Indo-European", ''Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur'' 110 (1988): 1–5.
* "The nature of the PIE laryngeals", ''The New Sound of Indo-European: Essays in Phonological Reconstruction'', ed. Theo Vennemann. Berlin/NY: de Gruyter, 1989, pp. 23–33.
* "Bloem en blad", ''100 jaar etymologisch woordenboek van het Nederlands'', eds. A. Moerdijk et al. The Hague: 1990, pp. 375–382.
* "De verwantschap van het Etruskisch", ''Lampas'' 23 (1990): 5–18.
* "The genitive in *-''osio''", ''Folia linguistica historica'' 11 (1990): 21–6.
* "The historical grammar of Greek", ''Linguistic Change and Reconstruction Methodology'', ed. P. Baldi. Berlin–NY: de Gruyter, 1990, pp. 305–329.
* "Wackernagel's explanation of the lengthened grade", ''Sprachwissenschaft und Philologie'', eds. H. Eichner & Helmut Rix. Wiesbaden: 1990, pp. 33–53
* "Who were the laryngeals?", ''In honorem Holger Pedersen: Kolloquium der indogermanischen Gesellschaft vom 25. bis 28. März 1993 in Kopenhagen'', ed. J. Rasmussen. Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag 1994, pp. 449–454.
* "Hades and Elysion", ''Mír Curad. Studies in honor of Calvert Watkins'', ed. Jay Jasanoff. Innsbruck: 1998, pp. 17–28.
* "European substratum words in Greek", ''125 Jahre Indogermanistik in Graz'', eds. Michaela Ofitsch & Christian Zinko. Graz: 2000, pp. 21–31.
* “Indo-European or substrate? φάτνη and κῆρυξ”, ''Languages in Prehistoric Europe'', eds. Alfred Bammesberger & Theo Vennemann. Heidelberg: 2003, pp. 109–116.
* “Armenian ''gišer'' and the Indo-European word for ‘evening’”, ''Per aspera ad asteriscos: Studia Indogermanica in honorem Iens Elmegård Rasmussen sexagenarii. Idibus Martiis anno MMIV'', eds. Adam Hyllested et al. Innsbruck: 2004, pp. 59–61.
* “Palatalized consonants in Pre-Greek”, ''Evidence and counter-evidence: essays in honour of Frederik Kortlandt'', eds. Alexander Lubotsky et al. Amsterdam: 2008, pp. 45–56.
* Supervisor with Alexander Lubotsky of the ''Indo-European Etymological Dictionary'', 1991 ff.

References

External links

Robert S. P. Beekes Memorial website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beekes, Robert S. P.
1937 births
2017 deaths
Linguists from the Netherlands
Linguists of Indo-European languages
Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
Scholars of Ancient Greek
People from Haarlem