Alwin Kloekhorst - Biography#

Alwin Kloekhorst (4.3.1978) is Associate professor at Leiden University Centre for Linguistics, author of four books, two edited volumes and ca. 50 articles.

He studied Indo-Iranian Languages and Comparative Indo-European Linguistics in Leiden University (1996-2001) and defended there his PhD dissertation ‘The Hittite Inherited Lexicon’ (supervisor Prof. Jos Weitenberg) in 2007, with distinction.

Kloekhorst's interests are very broad: he publishes not only about Anatolian languages and the reconstruction of Proto-Indo-European, but also about Sanskrit, Phrygian, and other old Indo-European languages. His scientific work is characterized by a combination of detailed philological research, strict methodology and great inventiveness. Without exaggeration it can be stated that the study of Anatolian languages has permanently changed thanks to Kloekhorst's work. His "Etymological Dictionary of the Hittite Inherited Lexicon" is nowadays considered a standard work and is quoted in almost all publications on Hittite linguistics.

Kloekhorst has a broad international network: he is a member of several European research groups, such as the "Hethitische Wörterbuch" project (Munich), the HERA-project "Multilingualism and Minority Languages in Ancient Europe" (Rome, Madrid, Ghent, Siena), the project "Los dialectos lúvicos del grupo anatolio indoeuropeo" (Barcelona), the "Indo-European Etymological Dictionary" project (Leiden), and is a consultant for etymology at the "Oxford English Dictionary". He has presented numerous times at international conferences (dozens of times as invited speaker or keynote speaker) and has several times been invited at universities throughout Europe to teach courses as a visiting professor.

Kloekhorst has been successful in obtaining grants: a VENI grant (2007) and a VIDI grant (2014) of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research and a HERA grant (2016) of the ERC.