Tricky Words in this week‘s OVI
The word faculty has developed many meanings over the centuries. The original Latin idea was power, not in the sense of moc or sila, but rather schopnosť, which could be mental as well as physical. Bodily faculties are the five physical senses and the ability to move our limbs, and mental faculties are the ability to think, understand, learn and reason. The idea of a group of people having these faculties and the ability to teach as well lies behind the American English understanding of faculty as the teaching staff at a university (a professor is a senior faculty member), whereas the European sense is part of the organizational structure of a university (TUKE originally started with three faculties). Other words for this meaning of faculty in UK or US unversities are department, division or school.
ANDY’S WORDSHOP
