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The Oxford English Dictionary (subscription needed) says that "wand" has meant "A magic rod; the staff used in enchantments by a fairy or a magician" for more than 600 years: a1400–50 [The...
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#3: Attribution notice added
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/45015 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
The [Oxford English Dictionary](http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/225430?rskey=Tmvgkv&result=1&isAdvanced=false#eid) (subscription needed) says that "wand" has meant "A magic rod; the staff used in enchantments by a fairy or a magician" for more than 600 years: > - a1400–50 _[The] Wars [of] Alex[ander]_ 57 On hiȝt in his a hand haldis a wand And kenely be coniurisons callis to him spritis. > - ?a1505 R. Henryson _Test[ament] Cresseid_ [...] This duleful sentence Saturne tuik on hand,..And on hir heid he laid ane frostie wand. > [...] > - 1798 Wordsworth _Peter Bell_ _Prol[ogue]._ 146 A potent wand doth Sorrow wield. > - 1853 Dickens _Bleak House_ xxxvi. 353 If a good fairy had built the house for me with a wave of her wand..I could not have been more considered in it. As long as your wands don't specifically copy parts of _Harry Potter_, there is no problem at all with your characters having magical sticks that they wave to cast spells.