GC: n
S: Harvard – https://www.harvard.edu/about-harvard/harvard-glance/about-faculty (last access: 31 May 2020); AAUP – https://www.aaup.org/report/inclusion-governance-faculty-members-holding-contingent-appointments (last access: 31 May 2020).
N: 1. Late 14c., «ability, opportunity, means, resources,» from Old French faculte «skill, accomplishment, learning» (14c., Modern French faculté) and directly from Latin facultatem (nominative facultas) «power, ability, capability, opportunity; sufficient number, abundance, wealth,» from *facli-tat-s, from facilis «easy to do,» of persons, «pliant, courteous, yielding,» from facere «to do» (from PIE root *dhe– «to set, put»).
2. Academic sense «branch of knowledge» (late 14c.) was in Old French and probably was the earliest in English (it is attested in Anglo-Latin from late 12c.), on notion of «ability in knowledge» or «body of persons on whom are conferred specific professional powers.» Originally, each department was a faculty; the use in reference to the whole teaching staff of an entire college dates from 1767. Related: Facultative. The Latin words facultas and facilitas «were originally different forms of the same word; the latter, owing to its more obvious relationship to the adj., retained the primary sense of ‘easiness’, which the former had ceased to have before the classical period.» [Oxford English Dictionary]
3. Meanings related to Education:
- A branch of teaching or learning (such as law, medicine, or liberal arts) in an educational institution.
- The teaching and administrative staff and those members of the administration having academic rank in an educational institution.
- faculty plural: faculty members.
S: 1&2. OED – https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=faculty (last access: 31 May 2020). 3. MW – https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/faculty (last access: 31 May 2020)
SYN: faculty members (depending on context)
S: MW – https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/faculty (last access: 31 May 2020); UNESCO – https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000247907 (last Access: 31 May 2020).