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-1‘to blow, swell’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bolno-1‘orb, round object’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*pullaz1‘round object, head, top’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*poll1reconstructed
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500pol1‘scalp, pate (head)’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1579poll1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English poll
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1579, Thomas North, Plutarch's Parallel Lives: “they slew Julius Caesar, who neither pilled nor polled…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bew-Wiktionary, English poll‘to blow, swell’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bolno-Wiktionary, English poll‘orb, round object’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*pullazWiktionary, English poll‘round object, head, top’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*pollWiktionary, English pollreconstructed
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500polWiktionary, English poll‘scalp, pate (head)’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1579pollWiktionary, English poll. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 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 Wiktionary’s etymology)

The story

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

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with poll, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Old English pōl ‘pool’

1 more relative in the full family tree

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Another origin of poll

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

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Today it means

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

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “poll”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

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