Robert S. P. Beekes

Dutch linguist (1937–2017)

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.

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.

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. Translated in Greek.)

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.