Ben Fortson is a Professor of Greek and Latin Language, Literature, and Historical Linguistics (Classical Studies) and Adjunct Professor of Linguistics at the University of Michigan. He specializes in the comparative linguistic study of the Indo-European language family, focusing primarily on the Italic, Greek, Indo-Iranian, Anatolian, Celtic, and Germanic branches, with side interests in comparative Indo-European metrics, poetics, and culture. He also does research in the methodology of historical linguistics and the mechanisms of phonological and morphological change. He is currently preparing a translation of, together with historical linguistic and cultural commentary on, the lexicon of Festus. For several years he was etymologist and Senior Lexicographer of The American Heritage Dictionary of English, and continues to do occasional lexicographic work. He is also Editor-in-Chief of Beech Stave Press.