Etymology
The name "quarterstaff" is first attested in the mid-16th century. The "quarter" probably refers to the means of production, the staff being made from hardwood of a tree split or sawed into quarters (as opposed to a staff of lower quality made from a tree branch).
The possibility that the name derives from the way the staff is held, the right hand grasping it one-quarter of the distance from the lower end is suggested in Encyclopædia Britannica. While this interpretation may have given rise to such positions in 19th-century manuals, it probably arose by popular etymology. The OED in support of its explanation of the "quarter" in origin referring to the way the staff was made points to an early attestation of the term, dated to 1590, Plodding through Aldersgate, all armed as I was, with a quarter Ashe staffe on my shoulder.
George Silver, an English fencer who wrote two books (1599, 1605) including lengthy sections on staff fighting does not use the term "quarterstaff", but instead calls it a "short staff" (as opposed to the "long staff"). Joseph Swetnam, writing in 1615, distinguishes between the "quarterstaff" of 7 or 8 feet (2.1 or 2.4 m) in length and the "long staff" of 12 feet (3.7 m).
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