faculty English · revision 5969

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1380|origins=la facultas}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈfæk.əl.ti/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English faculte, [[bor|fro|faculte|t=skill, learning]] and directly [[bor|la|facultās|t=power, ability, opportunity; abundance, wealth]] (accusative facultatem),^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) from earlier *facli-tāt-s, from [[m|la|facilis|t=easy to do]] (see [[facile]]),^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) from facere “to do”, from the PIE root [[ine-pro|*dʰeh₁-|alt=*dhe-|t=to set, put]].^(Etymonline) The OED notes that facultas and facilitas were at first forms of one word, facilitas keeping the sense “easiness”.^(Etymonline) The academic sense is from Medieval Latin facultas “branch of learning”, translating Greek dynamis, used so by Aristotle.^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Power, ability, resources: about 1380, in Chaucer's translation of Boethius.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) A branch of knowledge is also about 1380, in Chaucer's ''House of Fame'', and Etymonline thinks it probably the earliest sense in English, found in Anglo-Latin from the late 12th century.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The members of a profession, or of a university department, are a faculty from about 1450.^(Barnhart 1988) Etymonline explains this from “ability in knowledge” or a body of persons given specific professional powers; at first each department was a faculty, and the whole teaching staff of a college is so called from 1767.^(Etymonline) A power of the body or one of its organs is from before 1500,^(OED 1989) and one of the powers of the mind, such as reason or memory, from 1588.^(OED 1989) A power or licence granted by authority is from the 16th century.^(Hoad 1986) General executive ability, especially in housekeeping, is chiefly American from 1859.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1380 – ability; a branch of learning.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1450 – members of a profession.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * before 1500 – a bodily power.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1588 – a power of the mind.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1767 – the teaching staff of a college.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1859 – practical ability.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # One of the natural powers of the mind or body, such as [[reason]], memory or sight.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # An ability or talent: ''a faculty for languages''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A department of a [[university]] dealing with a group of subjects.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(chiefly North America)'' The teaching staff of a university, college or school.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A power or right granted by authority, especially by the church.^(Collins 2023)^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[interfaculty]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[facultative]]

+ * [[facile]]

+ * [[facility]]

+ * [[faculties]]

+ * [[difficulty]]

+ * [[fact]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}