polyhistor

English

Etymology

From Latin polyhistōr (very learned), from Hellenistic Ancient Greek πολυΐστωρ (poluḯstōr, greatly learned).

Noun

polyhistor (plural polyhistors)

  1. Someone gifted or learned to a great extent or in multiple disciplines; a great scholar. [from 16th c.]
    • 1988, Christina Pribićević-Zorić, translating Milorad Pavić, Dictionary of the Khazars, Vintage 1989, p. 24:
      A hired diplomat in Edirne and to the Porte in Constantinople, a military commander in the Austro-Turkish wars, a polyhistor and a learned man.
    • 1997, Eckhart Gillen, quoting Henry Schumann, German Art from Beckmann to Richter, →ISBN, page 289:
      [Carlfriedrich] Claus is an artist, though he does not like to call himself one, and a scholar. As such, he personifies the polyhistor, a species rarely found today.

Synonyms

Translations

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