Robert Stephen Paul Beekes (; 2 September 1937 – 21 September 2017) was a Dutch linguist who was
emeritus professor of Comparative
Indo-European Linguistics
Indo-European studies is a field of linguistics and an interdisciplinary field of study dealing with Indo-European languages, both current and extinct. The goal of those engaged in these studies is to amass information about the hypothetical pro ...
at
Leiden University and an author of many
monographs
A monograph is a specialist work of writing (in contrast to reference works) or exhibition on a single subject or an aspect of a subject, often by a single author or artist, and usually on a scholarly subject.
In library cataloging, ''monograp ...
on the
Proto-Indo-European language
Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo-E ...
.
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
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
theory to explain the
Etruscans
The Etruscan civilization () was developed by a people of Etruria in ancient Italy with a common language and culture who formed a federation of city-states. After conquering adjacent lands, its territory covered, at its greatest extent, rou ...
' origin. In 1993, he was elected member of the
Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.
He also did work on
Pre-Greek
The Pre-Greek substrate (or Pre-Greek substratum) consists of the unknown pre-Indo-European language(s) spoken in prehistoric Greece before the coming of the Proto-Greek language in the Greek peninsula during the Bronze Age. It is possible that ...
, the (non-Indo-European) language that was spoken in
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...
before
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
, possibly around 2000 BC. Since this language was not written, Beekes obtained his information from many words in
Classical Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...
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
''Gāthā'' is a Sanskrit term for 'song' or 'verse', especially referring to any poetic metre which is used in legends, and is not part of the Vedas but peculiar to either Epic Sanskrit or to Prakrit. The word is originally derived from the S ...
- 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
The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...
, 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
''Indo-Iranian Journal'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal focusing on aspects of Indo-Iranian cultures. The journal was started by Jan Willem de Jong and Franciscus Bernardus Jacobus Kuiper in 1957 with Ludwig Alsdorf, Harold Walter Bailey, L ...
'' 23 (1981): 21–27
* "GAv. ''må'', the PIE word for 'moon, month', and the perfect participle", ''Journal of Indo-European Studies
The ''Journal of Indo-European Studies'' (JIES) is a peer-reviewed academic journal of Indo-European studies. The journal publishes papers in the fields of anthropology, archaeology, mythology and linguistics relating to the cultural history of ...
'' 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
''Indogermanische Forschungen'' (English: ''Indo-European Researches''; subtitled ''Zeitschrift für Indogermanistik und historische Sprachwissenschaft/Journal of Indo-European Studies and Historical Linguistics'') is an annual peer-reviewed academ ...
'' 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
Frederik Herman Henri (Frits) Kortlandt (born 19 June 1946) is a Dutch former professor of descriptive and comparative linguistics at Leiden University in the Netherlands. He writes on Baltic and Slavic languages, the Indo-European languages in g ...
'', 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