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Erudition is the depth, polish and breadth that education confers. The Latin word educāre means to
bring out or train; hence an educated person has come to think critically and logically. An erudite
person has both deep and broad familiarity with general subjects and is usually knowledgeable in a
particular subject, by virtue of study and extensive reading of the subject's literature.
For example, a jurist is learned, and knows the law intimately and thoroughly. Thus, an erudite jurist
has both deep, specific knowledge of the law, and broad knowledge in the form of social and
historical context of law; an erudite jurist may additionally know the laws of other cultures. Erudition
in a literary work incorporates knowledge and insights spanning many different fields. When such
universal scholars are also at the forefront of several fields, they are sometimes
called polyhistors or polymaths.
The Italian poet Giacomo Leopardi was erudite: he read and studied the classics and was deeply
influenced by many philosophers. Other erudite writers include the Roman Marcus Terentius Varro,
the English essayist Sir Thomas Browne and the French essayist Michel de Montaigne.