< 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica
CROZIER, or pastoral staff, one of the insignia of a bishop, and probably derived from the lituus of the Roman augurs. It is crook-headed, and borne by bishops and archbishops alike (see {Pastoral Staff). The word “crozier” or “crosier” represents the O. Fr. crocier, Med. Lat. crociarius, the bearer of the episcopal crook (Med. Lat. crocea, croccia, &c., Fr. croc). The English representative of crocea was crose, later crosse, which, becoming confused with “cross” (q.v.), was replaced by “crozier-staff” or “crozier’s staff,” and then, at the beginning of the 16th century, by “crozier” (see J. T. Taylor, Archaeologia, Iii., “On the Use of the Terms Crosier, Pastoral Staff and Cross”).
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