Why the World Calls Him “Da Vinci”
“Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci” — Leonardo, son of Piero from Vinci.
Today I came across something interesting about Leonardo da Vinci, the legendary polymath who lived during the Renaissance.
He was born on April 15, 1452, and died on 2 May 1519.
His full name was Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, which literally means:
Leonardo, son of Piero from Vinci
The phrase “da Vinci” simply means “from Vinci”, referring to a small town near Florence in the Republic of Florence (Repubblica Fiorentina).
What’s fascinating is that the entire world now calls him “Da Vinci”,
as if “Vinci” were his family name — but in reality, it’s just where he was born.
Imagine if a brilliant person were born in Taipei,
and the whole world started calling them “Taipei” instead of their real name.
That’s essentially what happened with Leonardo da Vinci.
小結
李奧納多的名字其實代表了他的出身：
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci = 李奧納多，皮耶羅之子，來自文西城。
但世人卻以他的出生地「文西」來稱呼他。
這樣的現象不僅反映語言習慣，也讓我們看到歷史如何在傳播中重新塑造一個人的名字與身份。