Many notable polymaths lived during the European Renaissance period, and a rounded approach to education was typical of the ideals of the humanists of the time.
However, this distinction between the first and second meanings of the word might be subjective and even artificial since the existence of the last sense is only justified by those people who use the word polymath, in a more selective way, to denote someone with a verifiable proficiency in multiple fields, or, in an even more selective way, to denote someone with verifiable excellence or accomplishments in multiple fields (see the Etymological differentiation between Polymath and Polyhistor for an example of this distinction).Ī more specific term for the second meaning is Renaissance man (a term originated in the early 20th century), and also in use are Homo universalis and Uomo Universale, which in Latin and Italian, respectively, translate as "universal person" or "universal man". In other cases, polymath is used to describe a meaning in a continuum of concepts, ranging from the person who knows a lot about several fields of study or has a varied or encylopaedic knowledge (which will be called the first meaning in this article) to the person who has proficiency and competence in multiple fields or even to the person who has excelled in multiple fields (which will be called the second meaning). The meaning of the term in dictionaries seems consistent with the actual and more common and informal use, according to which someone very knowledgeable could be easily described as a polymath or polymathic, especially if his knowledge is not restricted to one subject. The term is obscure enough to be included in dictionaries of obscure words. Polymaths are also described as persons with encyclopaedic or broad or varied knowledge or learning (See for examples of actual use). Leonardo da Vinci is seen as an epitome of the Renaissance man or polymath.Ī polymath (a term originated in the early 17th century from the Greek roots polymathēs, πολυμαθής, meaning "knowing, understanding, or having learnt in quantity," compounded from πολυ- "much, many," and the root μαθ-, meaning "learning, understanding") is a person well educated in a wide variety of subjects or fields.