Scroll

Scroll, a strip or roll of paper, parchment, &c. The word in Mid. Eng. was scrow, and came from Fr. escrou, modern ecrou; the French form is preserved in the legal term "escrow" (see Deed); the French diminutive escrouel gave the English form "scroll." The Fr. escrou is of Teutonic origin and is connected with "shred," "shard" and "sherd"; and meant a "shred" of paper. The term is sometimes given in architecture to the volute of the Ionic capital, to the termination of the handrail of a staircase, and also to the wave-like decorations of Roman red glazed pottery, and more particularly in Samian ware.