Etymograph

English

scrow

Scrow comes from Old French escroe ‘register, note’, from Frankish *skrōda ‘piece’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *skrówdʰ-e-ti.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*skrówdʰ-e-ti1reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*skraudaną2‘to shred’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*skraudō2‘piece, shred’reconstructedderivative of *skraudaną
  4. Frankishc. 250–700*skrōda2‘piece’reconstructed
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400escroe2‘register, note’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500scrowe2
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1556scrow2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *skraudaną
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English scrow
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1556, Thomas Littleton: “written in a little scrowe”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*skrówdʰ-e-tiWiktionary, Proto-Germanic *skraudanąreconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*skraudanąWiktionary, English scrow‘to shred’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*skraudōWiktionary, English scrow‘piece, shred’reconstructedderivative of *skraudaną
  4. Frankishc. 250–700*skrōdaWiktionary, English scrow‘piece’reconstructed
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400escroeWiktionary, English scrow‘register, note’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500scroweWiktionary, English scrow
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1556scrowWiktionary, English scrow. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1556, Thomas Littleton: “written in a little scrowe”

Linked words

through Proto-Germanic *skraudō ‘piece, shred’

shred, 1 more

Today it means

noun scroll

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “scrow”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Proto-Germanic *skraudaną. 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 *skrówdʰ-e-ti / scrow

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