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(·2 September 1937 - † 21 September 2017)
Robert Stephen Paul Beekes was born in Haarlem on the 2nd September 1937 and died in Oegstgeest on the 21st September 2017. He studied classical philology at Leiden University. Under the supervision of F. B. J. Kuiper, professor of Sanskrit at Leiden University, he prepared his dissertation The Development of the Proto-Indo-European Laryngeals in Greek, more or less written already in 1966. In 1969 he successfully defended it and the text was published in the series Janua Linguarum by Mouton publishing house (1969a). In the meantime he was a teacher of the classical languages at Christelijk Lyceum in Haarlem. In the early 1970s he returned to Leiden, where he became the first professor of comparative Indo-European linguistics in the Netherlands (1974). In 1993 he was elected as a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences. In 1998 he renounced his professorship, and was then free to devote his energy to the realisation of his opus magnum, Etymological Dictionary of Greek (2010a), finished with the assistance of Lucien van Beek and published in the admirable Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series, founded by Alexander Lubotsky, the successful follower of Robert Beekes.
During 45 years Robert Beekes published altogether more than 100 publications, among them 9 monographs and one conference volume as a co-editor, 75 articles and 17 reviews. His linguistic interests may be exemplified by the following thematic survey of his publications (exclusive of reviews):
Greek philology: 1969b, 1972e, 1973d, 1986c, 1995b.
Greek phonology, morphology, etymology: 1973b, 1977a, b, 1987a, 1988c, 1990d, 2010a.
Mycenaean: 1972d, 1986a.
Pre-Greek & pre-IE substratum: 1971b, 1996a, b, 1998a, 2000a, 2003b, c, 2004b, c, 2008a, 2009a, 2014a.
Indo-Iranian: 1979a, b, 1981a, b, c, d, 1982a, 1985b, 1988a, 1989c, 1990e, f, 1997a.
Armenian: 2004a, b.
Anatolian: 1971a, 1974b, 2002a.
Latin: 1973c.
Germanic: 1972c, 1988d, 1989c, d, 1990b, g, 1996c, 1998d.
Indo-European phonology, especially the laryngeal theory: 1969a, 1971c, 1972a, c, 1976b, 1983a, 1988b, c, 1989a, 1990a, e, g, 1992c, 1994a, 1995a, 2011a.
Indo-European morphology: 1971a, 1972b, 1973a, 1975a, 1982a, 1983a, 1984a, 1985a, 1986a, b, 1987c, d, e, 1989b, 1990a, 1992b, 1994b, 1995a, 2011e.
Indo-European etymology & prehistory: 1974a, 1976a, 1982a, 1984a, 1987b, 1990a, 1992c, 1994c, 1997b, 1998b, c, 2004a.
Etruscan: 1990c, 1991a, 1993a, 2002a,...