English
scroll
Scroll comes from Middle English scrowle ‘scroll, document, bill’.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500scrowle‘scroll, document, bill’
- Englishearliest quotation 1985scroll
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500scrowle‘scroll, document, bill’
- Englishearliest quotation 1985scroll
Earliest quotation: 1985, Peter Balakian, The Oriental Rug: “I lose myself in a flawed henna plant jutting…”
The story
From Middle English scrowle, scrolle, from earlier scrowe, scrouwe (influenced by Middle English rolle), from Old French escroe, escrowe, escrouwe (‘scroll, strip of parchment’), from Frankish *skrōda (‘a shred’), from Proto-Germanic *skraudō, from *skrew- (‘to cut; cutting tool’), extension of *(s)ker- (‘to cut’).
Every English word from Middle English scrowle
Today it means
noun A roll of paper or parchment; a writing formed into a roll.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English scrowle / scroll