Rotuli

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A type of document or parchment used in historical record-keeping, often containing financial, legal, or administrative information
2. A rolled or scroll-like format of writing that was commonly employed in medieval times
3. Referring to manuscripts or records that were typically stored in a cylindrical or rolled format, often associated with official records

Etymology: "Rotuli" is the plural of "rotulus", a Latin word meaning "roll", a diminutive of "rota", "wheel". The Latin noun gave English two familiar words that came in by different routes: "role" entered through French, where a actor's part was written on a roll of parchment, and "roll" came more directly. The two are doublets, the same Latin root arriving twice in English with different shapes and meanings. English uses "rotuli" as a plural of "rotulus" in the same sense the Latin did: the rolls of parchment on which medieval and early modern legal and administrative records were written and stored. Scholars still cite collections of these documents by this name, so the plural remains in use for a specific kind of archive rather than in everyday speech.