Polymath vs Encyclopedic - What's the difference?
polymath | encyclopedic |
A person with extraordinarily broad and comprehensive knowledge.
* 1624 , , (The Anatomy of Melancholy) (2nd edn.), p.6:
Of or relating to the characteristics of an encyclopedia; concerning all subjects, having comprehensive information or knowledge.
(lexicography) Relating to or containing encyclopedic information rather than only linguistic or lexical information; about facts and concepts, and not only a word or term; including proper names, biographical and geographical information and illustrations.
* 2001 , Sidney I. Landau, Dictionaries: The Art and Craft of Lexicography , 2nd ed, Scribner:
As a noun polymath
is a person with extraordinarily broad and comprehensive knowledge.As an adjective encyclopedic is
of or relating to the characteristics of an encyclopedia; concerning all subjects, having comprehensive information or knowledge.polymath
English
(wikipedia polymath)Alternative forms
* (l), (l)Noun
(en noun)- To be thought and held Polumathes and Polihistors.
Synonyms
* polyhistor * renaissance manAntonyms
* monomathCoordinate terms
* factotum, handyman, jack of all trades, sciolistReferences
* “polymath, n. (a.)'']” listed in the '' [2nd ed., 1989 * “
polymath, n. ''and'' adj.'']” listed in the ''Oxford English Dictionary [3rd ed., September 2006
encyclopedic
English
Alternative forms
* encyclopaedic *Adjective
(en adjective)- [p 151] Although separate encyclopedic sections have nothing to do with the dictionary proper, there are no compelling logical reasons for condemning them.
- [p 212] Terms derived from names fall into three categories. Some, like Chomskyan'', refer to a person and the work done by that person, or to a place or a person from that place (''Virginian, Londoner ), and should be defined only in relation to the person or place. They are essentially encyclopedic entries and, if the dictionary contains an entry for the person or place in question, could well be run on without a separate definition.
- [p 359] The difficulty of distinguishing between lexical units and items in a nomenclature is especially nettlesome in specialized dictionaries, which are by their nature more encyclopedic than general dictionaries.
