university: [14] The etymological notion underlying a university is that it denotes the ‘whole’ number of those belonging to it. The word comes via Old French universite from Latin ūniversitās, which was derived from ūniversus (source of English universe). This originally meant the ‘whole’, but in the postclassical period it was applied to guilds and other such associations, referring to the ‘totality’ of their membership. These included societies of teachers and students, from which the modern meaning of university emerged. => universe[university etymology, university origin, 英语词源]