polymath |ˈpäliˌmaθ|nouna person of wide-ranging knowledge or learning.
DERIVATIVESpolymathic |ˌpäliˈmaθik| adjectivepolymathy |pəˈliməθē; ˈpäliˌmaθē|nounORIGIN early 17th cent.: from Greek polumathēs ‘having learned much,’ from polu- ‘much’ + the stem of manthanein ‘learn.’I'd like to think that I am a budding polymath, but in reality, I'm someone who is taking five courses in the same subject this semester. I suppose the intent of a "master's" degree is to create experts in each of our respective fields, but it makes me ponder every once in a while... Given the exclusion of the possibility that I could be both, would I rather be a master or a polymath?
2 comments:
Are you kidding me? You're a polymath. Just because a piece of paper will eventually tell everyone that you're really smart in one area doesn't mean you're stupid in all others. That logic doesn't track with me.
I don't like the term polymath though. I don't like math. Why couldn't it have been..."Polyman" (makes more sense based on the stem)...
It would also be lovely to have "much man" in my life too. But I digress.
I return to my point. Making you phenomenally good or expert-ish at one thing does not moot all the rest of your giftings. It just means that you have a really, REALLY big gun in your arsenal.
I think I would be a polymath, although there are many times that I have wished to be a master at something, anything! Be really great at something instead of just average.
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