English → Latin
“faculty” in Latin
ingeniuminnate or natural quality, natural character; nature; disposition, temper, inclination; intelligence, natural capacitysollersskilled, skilful, clever, dexterous, adroit, expert; ingenious, sagacious, clever, intelligent, inventivedocilitāsdocility; gentlenessfacultāsability to do any thing easily, skill, capacity, power; means, resources; opportunity, chancedīcōto say, talk, speak, utter, mention; to declare, state; to tellanimuslife, life force, soul, vitality (that life-giving aspect which animates a thing); conscience, intellect, mind, reason, animaair, breath; life, ghost; soulvēnaa vein, blood vessel; a watercourse; a vein of metals
The English word faculty itself goes back to Latin facilis, through facultas.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
faculty
Talent, ability, etc., ingenium (innate quality or power of mind, talent, genius; especially the power of perpetually forming new ideas; inventive faculty): sollertia (skill, talent in the working out of ideas): docilitas (aptness to learn, cleverness): ingenii facultas (a single power of the mind, Vid: Cic., De Or., 2, 80, 433; hence never of the mental faculties together, for which the Latins said simply ingenium): facultas, with genitive (power and skill for anything; e.g., for speaking, dicendi: in plur., also absolutely, facultates, faculties, Cic., De Invent., 1, 27, extr.).
The vital faculty, vis vitalis (the vital principle in nature): animus: anima (the vital principle in man, τὸ ἐπιθυμητικόν): venae (the veins, as the seat of the vital principle; Vid: Heindorf ad Hor., Sat., 2, 3, 153). If the soul were nothing more or greater than the vital faculty, si nihil esset in animo, nisi ut per eum viveremus.
Faculty in the universities, ordo: the theological faculty, *venerandus theologorum ordo: the faculty of law, *illustris jurisconsultorum ordo.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for faculty?
- The usual Latin words for “faculty” are ingenium, sollers, docilitās; also facultās, dīcō, animus. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.