Etymograph

English

poll

Poll comes from Middle English pol, polle ‘scalp, head’ (votes as counted heads), from Proto-West Germanic *poll, ultimately from PIE *bew- ‘to swell’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bew-‘to blow, swell’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*bolno-‘orb, round object’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*pullaz‘round object, head, top’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*pollreconstructed
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500pol‘scalp, pate (head)’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1579poll

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bew-‘to blow, swell’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*bolno-‘orb, round object’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*pullaz‘round object, head, top’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*pollreconstructed
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500pol‘scalp, pate (head)’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1579poll

Earliest quotation: 1579, Thomas North, Plutarch's Parallel Lives: “they slew Julius Caesar, who neither pilled nor polled…”

first attested Meaning "collection of votes" is first recorded 1625, from the notion of "counting heads" (as stated in the etymology)

The story

Meaning "collection of votes" is first recorded 1625, from the notion of "counting heads".

Linked words

through Old English pōl ‘pool’

pool, 1 more

Another origin of poll

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleh₁-‘to fill’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*polh₁ús‘much, many’reconstructed
  3. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEπολλοίpolloí‘the many, the masses’
  4. Englishtodaypoll

Today it means

noun A survey of people, usually statistically analyzed to gauge wider public opinion.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *bew- / poll

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