# Did Da Vinci plagiarize a lot of his ideas?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-da-vinci-plagiarize-a-lot-of-his-ideas/688748
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [May 19, 2014, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-da-vinci-plagiarize-a-lot-of-his-ideas/688748 "2014-05-19T17:16:37Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2014, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-da-vinci-plagiarize-a-lot-of-his-ideas/688748/21 "2014-05-19T22:04:49Z")
> [@Voyager](#):
>
> Washington and Jefferson were their last names.
>
> Would you go up to Joan of Arc and say “Miss Arc, your skirt’s on fire?”
> ETA: Actually I should have said “Miss of Arc.”
Who is your favorite Avenger? I like Evans’ Captain America and Hemsworth’s Thor but to me Junior’s Iron Man is the best of them all.
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2014, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-da-vinci-plagiarize-a-lot-of-his-ideas/688748/22 "2014-05-19T22:16:33Z")
> [@Musicat](#):
>
> No, he just thought “out of the box.”
Well, yes, he was probably celibate . . .
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2014, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-da-vinci-plagiarize-a-lot-of-his-ideas/688748/23 "2014-05-19T22:25:27Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#):
>
> I don’t object to the Leonardo da Vinci styling; just Da Vinci alone.
Da Vinci is pretty nearly a valid surname for the guy. He lived at a time when people of that area were adopting hereditary surnames - usually patronymic, but also not infrequently location-based. Obviously _da Vinci_ was a clearly still also a descriptive term at the time, but if he’d fathered a line of descendants, there’s a reasonable chance they would have taken _da Vinci_ as a formal surname - it’s exactly that period in history where the transition took place.
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### Author:  [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2014, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-da-vinci-plagiarize-a-lot-of-his-ideas/688748/24 "2014-05-19T22:31:57Z")
> [@Mangetout](#):
>
> Da Vinci is pretty nearly a valid surname for the guy. He lived at a time when people of that area were adopting hereditary surnames - usually patronymic, but also not infrequently location-based. Obviously _da Vinci_ was a clearly still also a descriptive term at the time, but if he’d fathered a line of descendants, there’s a reasonable chance they would have taken _da Vinci_ as a formal surname - it’s exactly that period in history where the transition took place.
It’s not da Vinci that rankles me; it’s Da Vinci.
And it hardly matters what his hypothetical descendants have done, if they don’t exist.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2014, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-da-vinci-plagiarize-a-lot-of-his-ideas/688748/25 "2014-05-19T22:39:43Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#):
>
> It’s not da Vinci that rankles me; it’s Da Vinci.
I shan’t argue with that.
> [@](#):
>
> And it hardly matters what his hypothetical descendants have done, if they don’t exist.
It makes no difference. Leonardo himself lived right on the cusp of the transition from descriptive names into hereditary surnames.
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### Author:  [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2014, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-da-vinci-plagiarize-a-lot-of-his-ideas/688748/26 "2014-05-20T00:22:28Z")
Yeah, get the fuck over it. Everyone knows who “Da Vinci” refers to, and these pedantic crap-fests are tedious and boring. We aren’t living in his time. Da Vinci is the name he should be called today, because it is the least confusing option.
The people who say “Da Vinci” aren’t hampering communication nearly as much as the people who whine about it and hijack threads.
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2014, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-da-vinci-plagiarize-a-lot-of-his-ideas/688748/27 "2014-05-20T01:58:44Z")
> [@Voyager](#):
>
> Would you go up to Joan of Arc and say “Miss Arc, your skirt’s on fire?”
> ETA: Actually I should have said “Miss of Arc.”
A most bodacious solider and general, Ms. Of Arc totally rousted the English from France.
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2014, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-da-vinci-plagiarize-a-lot-of-his-ideas/688748/28 "2014-05-20T02:55:31Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#):
>
> A most bodacious solider and general, Ms. Of Arc totally rousted the English from France.
Yeah, she was a hot one . . .
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### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2014, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-da-vinci-plagiarize-a-lot-of-his-ideas/688748/29 "2014-05-20T03:08:46Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#):
>
> A most bodacious solider and general, Ms. Of Arc totally rousted the English from France.
Was roasted by the English IN France, you mean…
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### Author:  [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2014, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-da-vinci-plagiarize-a-lot-of-his-ideas/688748/30 "2014-05-20T14:24:22Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#):
>
> Yeah, get the fuck over it. Everyone knows who “Da Vinci” refers to, and these pedantic crap-fests are tedious and boring. We aren’t living in his time. Da Vinci is the name he should be called today, because it is the least confusing option.
>
> The people who say “Da Vinci” aren’t hampering communication nearly as much as the people who whine about it and hijack threads.
Thank you. Another good thread shat upon by pedant brigade. Yuck. This isn’t a historical treatise it’s an internet trivia message board. Everyone know who Da Vinci is. Leonardo might be confusing without context. Please get the fuck over yourself.
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### Author:  [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2014, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-da-vinci-plagiarize-a-lot-of-his-ideas/688748/31 "2014-05-20T14:37:54Z")
I wish I could find a cite for this but I was told by a friend who is into the history of wars and weapons that a lot of Da Vinci’s designs had an uncanny resemblance to war machine designs found in old chinese archives. Many of them were modified into several different versions but all used a similar principle.
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### Author:  [@yellowjacketcoder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowjacketcoder)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2014, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-da-vinci-plagiarize-a-lot-of-his-ideas/688748/32 "2014-05-20T15:39:00Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#):
>
> Yeah, get the fuck over it. Everyone knows who “Da Vinci” refers to, and these pedantic crap-fests are tedious and boring. We aren’t living in his time. Da Vinci is the name he should be called today, because it is the least confusing option.
>
> The people who say “Da Vinci” aren’t hampering communication nearly as much as the people who whine about it and hijack threads.
> [@PlainJain](#):
>
> Thank you. Another good thread shat upon by pedant brigade. Yuck. This isn’t a historical treatise it’s an internet trivia message board. Everyone know who Da Vinci is. Leonardo might be confusing without context. Please get the fuck over yourself.
The motto for this board is “fighting ignorance”. If you don’t like your ignorance being fought there are plenty of places where your misconceptions will not be gently corrected.
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### Author:  [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2014, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-da-vinci-plagiarize-a-lot-of-his-ideas/688748/33 "2014-05-20T15:43:30Z")
Wrong. There is no ignorance to fight on the subject within this thread. We all understand perfectly well what “da Vinci” means, so please don’t use that as an excuse for pedantic hijacks.
The only misconception here is yours.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2014, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-da-vinci-plagiarize-a-lot-of-his-ideas/688748/34 "2014-05-20T15:46:38Z")
I can’t wait to see a Nostradamus thread.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2014, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-da-vinci-plagiarize-a-lot-of-his-ideas/688748/35 "2014-05-20T15:47:29Z")
Pedantic hijacks need no excuse.
It’s Leonardo.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2014, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-da-vinci-plagiarize-a-lot-of-his-ideas/688748/36 "2014-05-20T15:51:27Z")
> [@silenus](#):
>
> Pedantic hijacks need no excuse.
>
> It’s Leonardo.
I’m pretty sure that DiCaprio guy plagiarized most of his stuff.
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### Author:  [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2014, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-da-vinci-plagiarize-a-lot-of-his-ideas/688748/37 "2014-05-20T15:53:20Z")
> [@silenus](#):
>
> Pedantic hijacks need no excuse.
>
> It’s Leonardo.
I hated him in Titanic. Or did you mean the mutated turtle? Raphael was always my favorite, to be honest.
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### Author:  [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2014, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-da-vinci-plagiarize-a-lot-of-his-ideas/688748/38 "2014-05-20T15:58:55Z")
> [@yellowjacketcoder](#):
>
> The motto for this board is “fighting ignorance”. If you don’t like your ignorance being fought there are plenty of places where your misconceptions will not be gently corrected.
You’re hilarious. No, it’s not ‘fighting ignorance’. da (or Da) Vinci is a perfectly acceptable _english_ designator for the funky artist and thinker who lived from 1452 to 1519 in colloquial and I’d even say formal _english_ writing (And do not kid yourself, this board is colloquial english). Do you know how I know that? Because googling da vinci and hitting I’m feeling lucky takes you straight to his wikipedia page.
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### Author:  [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2014, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-da-vinci-plagiarize-a-lot-of-his-ideas/688748/39 "2014-05-20T16:03:57Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#):
>
> You’re hilarious. No, it’s not ‘fighting ignorance’. da (or Da) Vinci is a perfectly acceptable _english_ designator for the funky artist and thinker who lived from 1452 to 1519 in colloquial and I’d even say formal _english_ writing (And do not kid yourself, this board is colloquial english). Do you know how I know that? Because googling da vinci and hitting I’m feeling lucky takes you straight to his wikipedia page.
Wikipedia claims that there are no English words that rhyme with fork. 😉
But you’re right that I’m being pedantic, since what bugs me mostly is capitalizing the “da.” I don’t object to referring to the polymath in question as Leonardo da Vinci; I just think that if you’re going to shorten the name you should use the forename. One wouldn’t call the author of the Epistle to the Romans “of Tarsus,” after all.
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### Author:  [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2014, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-da-vinci-plagiarize-a-lot-of-his-ideas/688748/40 "2014-05-20T16:06:47Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#):
>
> I wish I could find a cite for this but I was told by a friend who is into the history of wars and weapons that a lot of Da Vinci’s designs had an uncanny resemblance to war machine designs found in old chinese archives. Many of them were modified into several different versions but all used a similar principle.
Once again I feel compelled to ask: can you specify which of da Vinci’s (see? I’m bending!) ideas you believe are or might be plagiarized?
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