Picture a power you already have and can use — seeing, hearing, remembering, judging. That is what a faculty is: a capacity, something you are equipped with. The university senses look unrelated until you notice they are the same idea applied to knowledge: a faculty was a branch of learning you were qualified to practise, and then the people qualified to teach it. Ability first, department second.
From the word’s history
From Latin facultas 'power, ability, capability, opportunity' (linked to facilis 'easy to do' and facere 'to do'). The academic sense appears in the late 14c. on the notion of 'ability in knowledge' or 'body of persons on whom are conferred specific professional powers'; originally each department was a faculty, and the 'whole teaching staff of a college' sense dates from 1767.
來自拉丁文 facultas「力量、能力、辦得到」（與 facilis「容易做」、facere「做」同源）。學術上的用法大約在 14 世紀末出現，取的正是「在某門知識上的能力」或「被授予某種專業權限的一群人」這個意思；一開始每一個系就是一個 faculty，而「全校教師」這個用法要到 1767 年才有。所以「能力」和「學院」不是兩個字，是同一個字的兩段人生。
Online Etymology Dictionary (etymonline.com/word/faculty)
登入就可以看每一支怎麼連回核心畫面。
原始詞典資料6 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
facultynoun/ˈfæk.əl.ti/
- 1
The academic staff at schools, colleges, universities or not-for-profit research institutes, as opposed to the students or support staff.
- 2
A division of a university.
- She transferred from the Faculty of Science to the Faculty of Medicine.
- 3
An ability, power, or skill.
- He lived until he reached the age of 90 with most of his faculties intact.
- What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason! how infinite in faculty!
- 4
An authority, power, or privilege conferred by a higher authority.
- Unless he has bi-ritual faculties, the Latin priest must baptize and confirm the Eastern rite person, whether infant or adult, according to the liturgical books of the Latin church ( canon 846 , §2 ).
- 5
A licence to make alterations to a church.
- 6
The members of a profession.
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。