Etymograph

English

scroll

Scroll comes from Middle English scrowle ‘scroll, document, bill’.

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500scrowle1‘scroll, document, bill’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1985scroll1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English scroll
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1985, Peter Balakian, The Oriental Rug: “I lose myself in a flawed henna plant jutting…”.

Lineage

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500scrowleWiktionary, English scroll‘scroll, document, bill’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1985scrollWiktionary, English scroll. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 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’).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Every English word from Middle English scrowle

Today it means

noun A roll of paper or parchment; a writing formed into a roll.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “scroll”. 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 / Middle English scrowle / scroll

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