Short answers, pulled from the story.
The word polymath derives from the Greek roots poly, meaning many, and manthanein, meaning to learn. The earliest recorded use in English appeared in 1624 in the second edition of Robert Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy.
Leonardo da Vinci is most often named the archetype of the Renaissance man polymath, described as having "unquenchable curiosity" and a "feverishly inventive imagination." He advanced multiple fields by applying mathematical principles across all of them.
Johann von Wowern, a Hamburg philosopher, published De Polymathia tractatio: integri operis de studiis veterum in 1603. He defined polymathy as knowledge ranging freely through all the fields of the disciplines, pursued with unwearied industry.
Root-Bernstein distinguishes the polymath from the dilettante by depth of integration. A dilettante acquires skills for their own sake without understanding broader applications, while a polymath puts significant time into avocations and uses multiple interests to inform their vocation.
In The Polymath, Waqas Ahmed argued that every human being has the potential to become a polymath, defined as someone who has made significant contributions to at least three different fields. He contended that specialization, particularly as shaped by the Industrial Revolution, suppresses this natural potential.
Peter Burke, professor emeritus of Cultural History at Cambridge, argued that as academic disciplines narrow, knowledge risks falling into the gaps between them. He stated that it takes a polymath to "mind the gap" and draw attention to knowledge that might otherwise disappear between disciplines.