Staff (stick)

A staff, simply, is a length of wood, generally carried by shepherds and travellers to ease their way, direct sheep, and perform other useful functions. From this it also developed into a badge of office, in the hands of bailiffs, heralds, et cetera, as well as into the crozier of the Christian bishop, and could then appear in a slimmer form, and with added decoration (like the ornate crooks of the crozier).

A staff (or, indeed, a stick) can be used as a weapon, mostly by peasant-type people.