baton [M16th] The original baton was a club or cudgel and came from French, ultimately from Latin bastum ‘stick’. The baton used to direct an orchestra or choir was first mentioned by the music historian Charles Burney (1726–1814) (father of the novelist Fanny Burney) in 1785. The baton passed from hand to hand in a relay race is first mentioned by that name in 1920. This use gives rise to pass on the baton, ‘to hand over a particular duty or responsibility’, and to take up (or pick up) the baton, ‘to accept a duty or responsibility’. The French name of Baton Rouge, the capital of Louisiana, means ‘Red Stick’ in English. It comes from a red-stained Native American boundary marker seen by early French explorers of the area.