English
jackstaff
From jack + staff.
Middle Dutch Jan ‘John’
Middle Dutch Janke
Anglo-Norman Jakke
Middle English Jakke
English Jack
English jack
Proto-Indo-European *stebʰ- ‘to stand still’
…
Proto-Germanic *stabaz ‘staff’
Proto-West Germanic *stab
Old English stæf ‘letter of the alphabet’
Middle English staf ‘a staff used to support one's movement’
English staff
Today it means
noun A short spar, at the bows of a ship, that serves as a flagpole to fly a flag (a jack).
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / jackstaff