SCROLL  , a

strip or roll of paper, parchment, &c . The word in Mid . Eng. was screw, 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 hand-rail of a staircase, and also to the wave-like decorations of Roman red glazed pottery, and more particularly in Samian ware .