Lucien van Beek is Assistant Professor at Leiden University Centre for Linguistics. His research focuses on Comparative Indo-European linguistics (morphology, semantics, lexicography, etymology) and philology, especially regarding the oldest sources of Greek. He conducted a VENI project 'Unraveling Homer's Language' (2016-2019) on processes of linguistic change in the language of early Greek epic. He is one of the main editors of the new Greek/Dutch dictionary (2024, directed by Prof. I. Sluiter). Currently, he investigates how conceptual metaphors are reflected in texts, the lexicon and etymology of ancient Indo-European languages.

More information about Lucien van Beek

Fields of interest 

• Ancient Greek Linguistics and Philology
• Comparative Indo-European Linguistics
• Poetry and Oral Traditions
• Morphology and (Morpho-)semantics
• Metaphor Studies

Research

I am currently investigating metaphors in texts in the oldest Indo-European languages, focusing on how metaphors are reflected in lexical change and in etymology. In my previous project 'Winged Words' funded by LUF (2023-2025), I have studied metaphors for Communication, and in my latest NWO-funded project 'True Meaning' (2026) I will investigate metaphors for Truth and Falsehood.
More broadly, I am interested in morphology, semantics, etymology and lexicography, in particular of Ancient Greek, but also of Latin and other ancient Indo-European languages. I enjoy reading and analyzing complex poetic texts, such as Pindar's Odes or the Vedic hymns. In my VENI project ‘Unraveling Homer’s Language’, I have studied the mechanisms of language change in Greek epic and its prehistory as an oral tradition.

Grant and awards

• 2025: NWO Open Competition XS grant for the project 'True Meaning: conceptual metaphors for Truth and Falsehood in Indo-European etymology'
• 2022: LUF Praesidium Libertatis grant for the project 'Winged Words: the Prehistory of Communication Metaphors'
• 2015: NWO Veni grant for the project ‘Unraveling Homer’s Language’
• 2007: NWO Toptalent grant (Now PhD's in the Humanities) for the project 'Proto-Greek: a Reconstruction'

Curriculum vitae

Selected publications

• van Beek, L. (2022) The reflexes of syllabic liquids in Ancient Greek: linguistic prehistory of the Greek dialects and Homeric Kunstsprache. Leiden Studies in Indo-European no. 22. Leiden: Brill.
• Sluiter I., L. van Beek, A. Kessels & A. Rijksbaron (eds.) (2024), Woordenboek Grieks-Nederlands. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
• van Beek, L. (ed.) (2025), Language change in epic Greek and other poetic traditions. Leiden Studies in Indo-European no. 25. Leiden: Brill.
• van Beek, L. (2022) "Greek". In: Olander, T. (ed.), The Indo-European language family. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 173-201.
• van Beek, L. (2022) "Artificial Word-Formation in the Epic Tradition: θοῦρος ‘fierce’ and the Formula θούριδος ἀλκῆς", The Journal of Hellenic Studies 142: 255-273.

Publications