Polymath

While reading about St. Hildegard of Bingen, I stumbled on a description of her as a “polymath of the High Middle Ages.” I am generally excited to learn a new word, although a little disappointed to not know all the words yet. Often I can figure out a meaning from context. But after imagining all sorts of bizarre definitions suggested by the prefix “poly,” I finally admitted defeat and looked up the word “polymath.” Wikipedia defines such a person as “an individual whose knowledge spans a substantial number of subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific problems.” Wikipedia should know because their knowledge spans a substantial number of subjects. St. Hildegard was born in 1098, so she did not know she was a polymath because the earliest recorded use of the term in English was in 1624 and I only recognize the English language. St. Hildegard did not even know she lived in the High Middle Ages because that term was not invented until centuries later. Like we could be living in the Early Age of Apocalypse but that designation will not be coined until the latter stages of the Age of Human Extinction. I have had to retitle this Blog because I have strayed from the intended topic of St. Hildegard of whom I still know little about. I am more of a molymath whose knowledge spans one subject at a time, known to draw simplistic conclusions to solve unspecified problems.