the.com/staff
A walking stick that became a symbol of authority by being held very confidently.
means A staff is either a long stick used for support, defense, or as a sign of office, or the group of people who work for an organization.
from From Old English 'stæf,' meaning a walking stick or rod — a word with deep Germanic roots, kin to Old Norse 'stafr' and Dutch 'staf.' The original sense was purely the physical pole. The 'group of employees' meaning is much later, an extension via the military 'staff' — the officers who assisted a commander, imagined as the support on which leadership leaned, much as one leans on a stick. The musical 'staff' (the five lines of notation) borrows the same image of horizontal rods.
- music origin
- Sheet music's five lines are literally called a staff.
- shepherd power
- A crook started as livestock control, ended as papal regalia.
- word split
- Plural is staves, like wooden barrel slats.
- workforce sense
- Calling employees staff dates to 1700s military command structure.
- gandalf approved
- The wizard's staff outranks the wizard in most fights.
white house staff — approximately 500+ employees serving the president of the united states
hospital nursing staff — registered nurses and aides at massachusetts general hospital, boston's largest medical center
mckinsey consulting staff — 40,000+ consultants at the global management consulting firm founded 1926
starbucks barista staff — over 400,000 employees worldwide across 35,000+ locations globally