The story
- Latin · calque ofvītis“vine; vine staff”
- English todayvine staff
Words from the same roots
Latinvītis all →
viseviticulturefeezevitaceous
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
vine staff
Today it means: A cane originally made of twisted grapevine trimmings and used by Roman centurions to beat the soldiers under their command; the various mushroom-headed batons later borne by them as a mark of office. Full definition →
Latin vītis