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Galileo Galilei, and yet people still refer to him by his firstname alone. It's painful to read. It is, as if we refer to Isaac and Albert when speaking about
by ocean2 7mo ago
Galileo Galilei, and yet people still refer to him by his firstname alone.
It's painful to read.
It is, as if we refer to Isaac and Albert when speaking about Gravity and Relativity.
- yapfrog 7mo agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_Galilei#Name https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_Galilei#Name Surnames are optional in Italy at that time. Galileo is how he refers to himself and how people refer to him.
- spockz 7mo agoThere are many Isaacs and Alberts. How many notable Galileo(s, not to use Galilei) do we have?
- 9dev 7mo agoHis name works like "Bostoner from Boston", so it was reasonable for him at the time to refer to himself as just Bostoner.
- srean 7mo agoI have always been intrigued by the similarity of Italian naming conventions and that of the Arabs and Persians. Resident of, son of, father of, family of. Leonardo of Pisa of the family of Bonacci being another well known one. I suppose it is not specific to those cultures and was a more widespread convention.
- pmontra 7mo agoIn Italy it's extremely usual to refer to the greatests of the great people of those ages by their given name: Leonardo, Galileo, Dante, Michelangelo. It's testament to their greatness. There is only one Dante that matters, so there is no need to add Alighieri but if you do nobody notices anything strange. It's only a bit redundant. Using only the surname would be unusual.