ALEXANDER NIKOLAEV
Having developed an early interest in ancient languages, I took a hefty dose of Greek and Latin in high school and entered college in my home city of St. Petersburg with the intention of becoming a classicist of a traditional mold. But once I took a course in historical-comparative Indo-European linguistics in my freshman year, I became fascinated by the prospect of bringing classical philology, historical linguistics, and comparative mythology together in the study of ancient texts. In 2003 I graduated college and after stints in Austria, Germany, and Sweden I received my first graduate degree in 2006. Then I came to the U.S. for Ph.D. study at Harvard University, where I was also a Resident Tutor for Linguistics and the Classics at Leverett House. Prior to joining the Department of Classics and Philosophy at UCY, I taught at Boston and Brandeis Universities. I am a past recipient of an Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung Senior Research Fellowship, Neu Family Award, Academia Europaea prize, Harvard Presidential Scholarship, and other awards and grants.
“Luw. /lara-/, Hitt. lazzi-, Arm. law,” forthcoming in an-tu-uh-ši. In memoriam Heiner Eichner, ed. by Melanie Malzahn, Hannes Fellner, Laura Grestenberger, Stefan Höfler & Bernhard Koller. Wiesbaden: Reichert.
“Vedic yād-,” forthcoming in Μνείας χάριν. Indo-European and Related Studies in Memory of Gary B. Holland, ed. by Roslyn Burns, Alfredo Rizza & Marina Zorman. Wiesbaden: Reichert.
"Λήδᾱ, Λήδη, (*)Λᾱ́δᾱ," Indo-European Linguistics and Classical Philology 29/2 (2025) 107–136.
“δίννεντες (Sappho fr. 1.11) and related forms,” Glotta 101 (2025) 106–132.
“PIE *kwi̯eu̯- and *ḱei̯h2- (LIV2 346, 394): A Greco-Armeno-Albanian revision,” Münchener Studien zur Sprachwissenschaft 76/2 (2024 [2025]) 41–62.
“Wish for hope: Greek ἔλπομαι, (ἐ)έλδομαι, Latin volup, Armenian gełj,” Indo-European Linguistics and Classical Philology 28 (2024) 1212–1239.
“Hdt. 4.79 διεπρήστευσε,” Philologia Classica 18 (2023) 4–15.
“New Phrygian εδικες, Greek θιγγάνω (with remarks on Miller’s Law and the treatment of *dhs in PIE),” Indo-European Linguistics and Classical Philology 27 (2023) 709–730.
“τιθαιβώσσουσι μέλισσαι (Homer, Odyssey 13.106),” Classical Quarterly 72/1 (2022) 39–52
“Greek μάρπτω and Tocharian A märk‑,” Cuadernos de Filología Clásica: Estudios Griegos e Indoeuropeos 32 (2022) 23–28
“Luwian luhanuwa-, Lycian B luga- ‘to burn’,” Indo-European Linguistics and Classical Philology 26 (2022) 863–871
“Greek μαπ- and its congeners,” Acta Linguistica Petropolitana 18 (2022) 267–281
“Sanskrit dhīra-2 ‘steady, brave, energetic’,” Ha! Linguistic Studies in Honor of Mark R. Hale, ed. by L. Grestenberger, Ch. Reiss, H. A. Fellner, and G.Z. Pantillon, 277–283. Wiesbaden: Reichert, 2022.
“Notes on Greek primary comparatives,” Verus convictor, verus academicus: k 70-letiju Nikolaja Nikolaeviča Kazanskogo, ed. by M. L. Kisilier, 549–563. St. Petersburg: ILI RAN, 2022.
“New Phrygian (-)τετικμενος, Hittite tekri- and other descendants of PIE *dei̯ḱ-,” Chatreššar 4/2 (2021[2023]) 41–56
“Luwo-Hittite anšaššiwiš ‘corpse’,” Journal of Indo-European Studies 49 (2021) 395–405.
“Iranian *zganda- ‘messenger’, *zgad- ‘to ride a horse’ and Greek σφαδᾴζω,” Philologia Classica 16 (2021) 222–227
“Rhotic degemination in Sanskrit and the etymology of Vedic ūrú- ‘thigh’, Hittite UZU(u)walla- ‘id.’,” Indo-European Linguistics 9 (2021) 171–202
“Vedic rūrá- ‘burning hot’, Ossetic arawyn ‘to scorch in fire’, Greek ἀλέᾱ ‘heat’, Old Irish loscaid ‘burns’, and Latin lūstrum ‘ritual purification’,” Münchener Studien zur Sprachwissenschaft 74 (2021) 109–132.
“Etyma Graeca II,” Indo-European Linguistics and Classical Philology 25 (2021) 953–976.
“YAv. Spitiiura- and the compositional form of PIE *u̯r̥h1-en- ‘lamb’ in Indo-Iranian,” Indo-Iranian Journal 64/2 (2021) 145–162
“Addendum lexicis: Hittite ḫurišiya-,” Münchener Studien zur Sprachwissenschaft 74 (2021) 133–136.
“Greek ἅρπαξ ‘robber; robbery’,” Indogermanische Forschungen 125 (2020) 33–40.
“δρώπτειν ‘to examine’ (Aesch. fr. 278 Radt) and Indo-Iranian *darp- ‘to see’,” Glotta 96 (2020) 124–130
“Μαῖρα and other dangerous women,” Indo-European Linguistics and Classical Philology 24 (2020) 885–893.
“Deep waters: the etymology of Vedic gabhīrá-,” Historische Sprachforschung / Historical Linguistics 132 (2019[2021]) 191–207
“Through the thicket: the text of Pindar Olympian 54 (βατιᾶι τ’ ἐν ἀπειράτωι),” Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 110 (2019) 97–115.
“Horror vacui: Gk. ὠχρός ‘pale, wan’, Hitt. wakkāri ‘is lacking’,” Wekwos 4 (2019) 185–90.
“Δάειρα, the lady of the waters,” Indo-European Linguistics and Classical Philology 23 (2019) 790–795
“Shame and insult in Anatolia: Luvo-Hittite zammurāi-,” Journal of American Oriental Society 139 (2019) 187–199
“Greek θοός ‘sharp’, Hittite tuḫš- ‘to cut’,” Vina Diem Celebrent: Studies in Linguistics and Philology in Honor of Brent Vine, ed. by D. Gunkel, S. W. Jamison, A. O. Mercado, and K. Yoshida, 267–275. Ann Arbor: Beech Stave, 2018.
“Latin farferum ‘coltsfoot’: A trace of Indo-European poetic language in Latin plant nomenclature?” Indo-European Linguistics and Classical Philology 22 (2018) 961–966
“Sidetic masara Tue[ ”, Indogermanische Forschungen 122 (2017) 219–226
“σθένει βλεμεαίνων,” Glotta 93 (2017) 117–134.
“Luvian (SÍG)šūrita ‘balls of yarn’,” Usque ad radices: Indo-European Studies in Honour of Birgit Anette Olsen, ed. by B. S. S. Hansen (et al.), 567–574. (Copenhagen Studies in Indo-European, vol. 8). Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 2017.
“Hittite yaya(i)-i,” Indogermanische Forschungen 121 (2016) 63–68.
“Ten thousand eyes: The story of Ἄργος Μυριωπός,” Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 55 (2015) 812–831.
“Hittite wattaēš ‘birds’,” Münchener Studien zur Sprachwissenschaft 69 (2015) 257–267.
“Greek ἀμαυρός and Indo-European *meh2- ‘great, large’,” Proceedings of the 25th Annual UCLA Indo-European Conference, ed. by S. W. Jamison, H. C. Melchert and B. Vine, 121–136. Bremen: Hempen, 2014.
“Homeric ἀάατος: etymology and poetics,” Die Sprache 50 (2012/2013[2015]) 182–239.
“The origin of Latin prōsāpia,” Glotta 91 (2015) 225–248
“ἄτερπνος (Ibyc. fr. 328 PMGF),” Classical Philology 110 (2015) 66–70
“Greek εἱαμενή, Vedic yávasa-,” Münchener Studien zur Sprachwissenschaft 68 (2014) 127–140.
“An epic party? Sober thoughts on νηφέμεν (Archil. 4.9 West),” Philologus 58 (2014) 10–25
“Latin draucus,” Classical Quarterly 64 (2014) 316–320.
“An etymological miscellany,” Indo-European Linguistics and Classical Philology 18 (2014) 708–717.
“The aorist infinitives in ‑έειν in early Greek hexameter poetry,” Journal of Hellenic Studies 133 (2013) 81–92.
“Showing praise in Greek choral lyric and beyond,” American Journal of Philology 133 (2012) 543–572.
“Avestan Haēcat̰.aspa-, Rigveda 4.43, and the myth of the Divine Twins,” Journal of American Oriental Society 132 (2012) 567–575.
“†ἀκεσταλίων† ὀρνίθων (Stesich. PMGF 247),” Mnemosyne 64 (2011) 625–628.
“Hittite menaḫḫanda,” Journal of American Oriental Society 130/1 (2010) 63–71.
“Indo-European root *dem(h2)- ‘to build’ and its derivatives,” Historische Sprachforschung / Historical Linguistics 123 (2010) 56–96.
“Time to gather stones together: Greek λᾶας and its Indo-European background,” Proceedings of the 21st Annual UCLA Indo-European Conference, ed. by S. W. Jamison, H. C. Melchert and B. Vine, 189–1206. Bremen: Hempen, 2010.
“The Germanic word for ‘sword’ and delocatival derivation in Proto-Indo-European,” Journal of Indo-European Studies 37 (2009) 461–488.
“Thus spake Zaraθuštra: On the meaning of (ἐ)μήσατο in Pap. Derv. xxiii,4,” Indo-European Linguistics and Classical Philology 12 (2008) 308–336.
“The name of Achilles,” Cambridge Classical Journal. Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society. Supplementary volume 32 (2007) 162–173.
“ Ἰάονες,” Acta Linguistica Petropolitana 2/1 (2006) 100–115.
“Die Etymologie von altgriechischem ὕβρις,” Glotta 80 (2004[2005]) 114–125.
“Aind. abda- und Zubehör,” Acta Linguistica Petropolitana 1 (2003) 103–117.
“Rund um att. γραῦς, hom. γρηΰς: zur Deutung einiger altgriechischer Personennamen,” Colloquia Classica et Indogermanica III, ed. by N.N. Kazansky, 179–198. St. Petersburg: Nauka, 2003.
“Proto-Indo-European Ergativity and the Genitive in *-osyo,” Proceedings of the 11th UCLA Indo-European Conference, ed. by K. Jones-Bley, M. Huld and A. Della Volpe, 293–311. Washington, D.C.: Institute for the Study of Man, 2000 (JIES Monograph Series 35).