Latin 'universitas' (a corporation) — the first universities were guilds, 'all turned into one' body.
A high-level educational institution in which students study for degrees and academic research is conducted.
From Latin 'ūniversitās' (the whole, the totality, a guild or corporation), from 'ūniversus' (all together, whole), from 'ūni-' (one) + 'versus' (turned), past participle of 'vertere' (to turn). In medieval Latin, 'ūniversitās' meant any legally constituted corporation or guild. The full medieval phrase was 'ūniversitās magistrōrum et scholārium' — 'the guild of masters and scholars' — and the word was later shortened to refer to the institution itself. Key
A 'university' was originally not a place but a legal corporation — any guild or trade association. The medieval University of Paris was formally the 'ūniversitās magistrōrum et scholārium' (guild of masters and scholars), no different in legal structure from the goldsmiths' guild or the butchers' guild. The word meant 'all turned