| FOREWORD
The realisation of this work, “Etymological Dictionary of the Iranian Verb”, started with a grant from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) for a project in 2000. This project was part of a larger etymological dictionary project, the Indo-European Etymological Dictionary research project (http://www.ieed.nl), directed by professor Alexander Lubotsky of the Department of Comparative Linguistics (VTW). The task was to compile a database that contained12:57 27/01/2011 all Iranian verbal forms possibly traceable to Proto-Indo-European (in practice, Proto-Iranian) and, in due course, to publish it as a book. The project ended in 2003. Meanwhile, I accepted a position at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London. The date for the publication was put on hold, until last year, when Brill Publishers, Leiden, expressed interest to publish this work. This willingness gave me an incentive to scrutinise the database afresh. Naturally, after such a long pause, I discovered many errors and shortcomings in the reconstruction and analysis of forms. I have revised many records of the database and incorporated (recent) literature that I had overlooked sofar. Although I do not have the illusion that the present work is now free of inconsistencies, not to mention mistakes and omissions, I do hope that it will still prove useful for Indo-Europeanists and Sanskritists, for whom many Iranistic publications are often inaccessible or simply unknown, and Iranisants, who may not have detailed knowledge about the huge strides that Indo-Europeanists have made in the past forty years.
It goes without saying that the completion of the “Etymological Dictionary of the Iranian Verb” was not possible without the help and support from several institutions and persons. It is only appropriate to acknowledge in the first place the financial support given by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research. Further, I am grateful to the Department of Comparative Linguistics of my Alma Mater, Leiden University. It provided me with a congenial environment in which I was able to work and exchange views with its staff members. The physical finalisation of these years of toil and labour must be credited to Brill Publishers, who have kindly agreed to publish it in their “Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series”. Also, I would like to warmly thank the Ancient India and Iran Trust (Cambridge, UK), which, at the final stage of the work, became an extremely convenient place for consulting books and articles from its very well-stocked library, at practically any time of the day. Only rarely could I not find a particular reference... | 
