Meaning

noun personnel who assist their superior in carrying out an assigned task

noun a strong rod or stick with a specialized utilitarian purpose

noun the body of teachers and administrators at a school

originFrom Middle English staf, from Old English stæf (“letter of the alphabet”), from Proto-West Germanic *stab, from Proto-Germanic *stabaz. Cognate with Dutch staf, German Stab, Danish stav, Swedish stav. Sense of "group of military officers that assists a commander" and similar meanings, attested from 1702, is influenced by or is even from German Stab.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0