Opsimath

{{Short description|Person who begins, or continues, to study or learn late in life}}

An opsimath is a person who begins, or continues, to study or learn late in life.The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, page 2010. Oxford University Press, 2002. The word is derived from the Greek ὀψέ ({{Transliteration|el|opsé}}), meaning 'late', and μανθάνω ({{Transliteration|el|manthánō}}), meaning 'learn'.Bowler, Peter: The Superior Person's Book of Words, page 101. Bloomsbury, 2002.

Opsimathy was once frowned upon, used as a put-down with implications of laziness,[http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft9603/articles/revessay.html FirstThings.com essay by J. Bottum: "Girard Among the Girardians"] regarding "exposure" of opsimathy, implying negativity. (URL accessed April 15, 2006) {{webarchive |url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060314002905/http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft9603/articles/revessay.html |date=March 14, 2006 }} - "This progress has sometimes exposed him as an opsimath, discovering important theological texts only late in his career." and considered less effective by educators than early learning.[http://www.nifl.gov/nifl-4eff/2002/0220.html nifl.gov thread] concerning opsimathy. (URL accessed April 15, 2006) {{webarchive |url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060427224732/http://www.nifl.gov/nifl-4eff/2002/0220.html |date=April 27, 2006 }} The emergence of "opsimath clubs"[https://www.sfu.ca/mediapr/sfnews/1999/Dec2/opsimath.html Simon Fraser News] reports an "opsimath club". (URL accessed April 15, 2006) {{webarchive |url= https://web.archive.org/web/20051124132322/http://www.sfu.ca/mediapr/sfnews/1999/Dec2/opsimath.html |date= November 24, 2005 }} has demonstrated that opsimathy has shed much of this negative connotation.[http://www.gcal.ac.uk/magnus/ceremony_speech_text.html Glasgow Caledonian University speech] aggrandizing opsimathy. (URL accessed April 15, 2006) {{webarchive |url= https://web.archive.org/web/20051118204240/http://www.gcal.ac.uk/magnus/ceremony_speech_text.html |date= November 18, 2005 }}

Notable opsimaths include 19th-century army officer and orientalist Sir Henry Rawlinson, Vivian Stanshall's fictitious character Sir Henry Rawlinson, Grandma Moses, Rabbi Akiva (according to the Talmud, he began studying at age 40), and Cato the Elder, who learned Greek only at the age of 80.{{cn|date=June 2021}}