Etymograph

English

roll

Roll comes from Old French roller, from Medieval Latin rotulāre ‘to roll’, from Latin rotula ‘a little wheel’, diminutive of rota ‘wheel’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErota1‘wheel’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErotula1‘a little wheel’diminutive of rota
  3. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500rotulāre1‘to roll; to revolve’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400roller1
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500rollen1
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1599roll1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English roll
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1599, William Shakespeare, The Life of Henry the Fift: “And her foot, look you, is fixed upon a…”.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErotaWiktionary, English roll‘wheel’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErotulaWiktionary, English roll‘a little wheel’diminutive of rota
  3. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500rotulāreWiktionary, English roll‘to roll; to revolve’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400rollerWiktionary, English roll
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500rollenWiktionary, English roll
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1599rollWiktionary, English roll. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1599, William Shakespeare, The Life of Henry the Fift: “And her foot, look you, is fixed upon a…”

Word family

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

through Latin rota ‘a wheel’

through Medieval Latin rotulāre ‘to roll’

14 more relatives in the full family tree

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Another origin of roll

  1. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500rotulus‘a roll, list, catalogue, schedule, record, a paper or parchment rolled up’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400rolle
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500rolle
  4. Englishtodayroll

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Today it means

verb To revolve by turning over and over; to move by turning on a horizontal axis; to impel forward with a revolving motion on a supporting surface.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “roll”. 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 / Latin rota / roll