{{Short description|Dutch linguist (1937–2017)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Robert S. P. Beekes | image = Robert S. P. Beekes.jpg | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Robert Stephen Paul Beekes | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1937|9|2}} | birth_place = Haarlem, Netherlands | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2017|9|21|1937|9|2}} | death_place = Oegstgeest, Netherlands | doctoral_advisor = F. B. J. Kuiper | education = Leiden University (Ph.D., 1969) | fields = Indo-European linguistics | workplaces = Leiden University | known_for = Contributions to Indo-European studies<br>Reconstructing Pre-Greek phonology<br>''Indo-European Etymological Dictionary''<br>''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'' }}
'''Robert Stephen Paul Beekes''' ({{IPA|nl|ˈbeːkəs|lang}}; 2 September 1937 – 21 September 2017)<ref>''NRC Handelsblad'', 23 September 2017.</ref>{{fcn|date=May 2026}} 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.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.knaw.nl/en/news/publications/the-origin-of-the-etruscans/@@download/pdf_file/20021051.pdf |title=The Origin of the Etruscans |access-date=4 August 2014 |archive-date=22 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220122052239/https://www.knaw.nl/en/news/publications/the-origin-of-the-etruscans/@@download/pdf_file/20021051.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1993, he was elected member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.knaw.nl/nl/leden/leden/3845|title=R.S.P. Beekes|publisher=Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=26 July 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208150852/https://www.knaw.nl/nl/leden/leden/3845|archive-date=8 December 2015}}</ref>
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.<ref>[https://dictionaries.brillonline.com/greek Etymological Dictionary of Greek – Pre-Greek Loanwords in Greek] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140502005620/http://iedo.brillonline.nl/dictionaries/content/greek/loanwords.html |date=2 May 2014}}</ref> Beekes authored the ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'' for the Leiden ''Indo-European Etymological Dictionary'' series. His work drew praise, with the philologist Oliver Simkin stating, "Brill's claim that it 'should be on every classicist's desk' is fully justified." Simkin does, however, criticize Beekes for his proclivity towards Pre-Greek etymologies, many of which are described by Simkin as "contentious."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Simkin |first=Oliver |year=2011 |title=Greek Etymology |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41301022 |journal=The Classical Review |volume=61 |issue=1 |pages=1–3 |issn=0009-840X}}</ref> Another linguist, Miles Beckwith, commended the work for supposedly containing "a wealth of information on the historical development of Greek," though he still considered the predilection for Pre-Greek etymologies to be a "pervasive issue."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Beckwith |first=Miles |date=2012 |title=Review of Etymological Dictionary of Greek. Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23264568 |journal=The Classical World |volume=105 |issue=4 |pages=558–560 |issn=0009-8418}}</ref>
==Selected works== ===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. * [https://archive.org/details/etymological-dictionary-of-greek_202306/mode/2up ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek''], 2 vols. Leiden: Brill, 2009. * ''Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon'', Leiden: Brill, 2014. (Edited by Stefan Norbruis. [https://www.theodosispapadimitropoulos.gr/%CE%B2%CE%B9%CE%B2%CE%BB%CE%AF%CE%BF/%cf%80%cf%81%ce%bf%ce%b5%ce%bb%ce%bb%ce%b7%ce%bd%ce%b9%ce%ba%ce%ac/ Translated in Greek].)
===Edited volumes=== * ''Rekonstruktion und relative Chronologie. Akten der VIII. Fachtagung der Indogermanischen Gesellschaft, Leiden, 31. August – 4. September 1987'', ed. Robert S. P. Beekes, A. Lubotsky, J. Weitenberg. Innsbruck: Institut für Sprachwissenschaft, 1992. {{ISBN|3851246136}}.
===Articles=== * "''Mṓnukhes híppoi''", ''Orbis'' 20 (1971): 138–142. * "H<sub>2</sub>O", ''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", {{Lang|de|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: 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== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== * {{cite book |last=Lubotsky |first=Alexander |author-link=Alexander Lubotsky |title=Sound Law and Analogy: Papers in honor of Robert S.P. Beekes on the occasion of his 60th birthday |publisher=Rodopi |publication-place=Amsterdam|date=1997 |isbn=978-90-420-0321-7 |url=https://brill.com/display/title/30175 |url-access=subscription}}
== External links == * [https://www.robertbeekes.nl/ Robert S. P. Beekes Memorial website]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beekes, Robert S. P.}} Category:1937 births Category:2017 deaths Category:Linguists from the Netherlands Category:Linguists of Indo-European languages Category:Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Category:Scholars of Ancient Greek Category:People from Haarlem