c.1400, "roll of parchment or paper," altered (by association with rolle "roll") from scrowe (c.1200), from Anglo-French escrowe, Old French escroe "scrap, roll of parchment," from Frankish *skroda "shred" or a similar Germanic source, from Proto-Germanic *skrauth- (cognates: Old English screada "piece cut off, cutting, scrap;" see shred, n.). As an ornament on furniture or in architecture, from 1610s.

"to write down in a scroll," c.1600, from scroll, n.. Sense of "show a few lines at a time" (on a computer or TV screen) first recorded 1981. Related: Scrolled; scrolling.