Name for someone who is equally skilled at two things - 10/29/07 09:28 PM
In the popular (nerdy) fantasy tabletop game, Dungeons and Dragons, there's been a lot of head-scratching over the years to come up with a word to call characters who know both magic and swordplay. The archetype doesn't really exist in classical mythology, so there isn't (to my knowledge) a word for it in the English language. Past solutions have ranged from being unimaginative ("Hey, let's call 'em fighter/mages!") to too imaginative ("They are called 'gishes.' That's right, like the Smashing Pumpkins album.") In an upcoming book, one of the writers over at D&D is calling the concept a "swordmage," a name which, for me, conjures the image of a cross between Merlin and a Marlin.
I was wondering, however, if there was a fairly neutral word used to describe a person who is equally skilled in two fields. For instance, a high school student who is both valedictorian and captain of the football team. I'd call them an overachiever, but is there anything else they might be called?
I've thought of polymath, although that implies that the person has more than two fields of expertise. Any help would be appreciated, although I'm prepared to accept that there simply is no such word. I just thought I'd turn it over to the linguaphiles here to think about.
I was wondering, however, if there was a fairly neutral word used to describe a person who is equally skilled in two fields. For instance, a high school student who is both valedictorian and captain of the football team. I'd call them an overachiever, but is there anything else they might be called?
I've thought of polymath, although that implies that the person has more than two fields of expertise. Any help would be appreciated, although I'm prepared to accept that there simply is no such word. I just thought I'd turn it over to the linguaphiles here to think about.
