Etymologically
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troll

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English has a noun troll for a creature of Scandinavian folklore, borrowed from Old Norse, and a verb troll (with nouns formed on it), meaning to stroll, roll, sing or fish with a trailing line, which is probably from Old French; their histories meet in the internet sense.[1][2][3][4]

Pronunciation

  • UK: /tɹɒl/, /tɹəʊl/[5]
  • US: /tɹɑl/, /tɹoʊl/[5]

troll1 creature of folklore

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Norse troll (“giant, fiend, demon”),[6][3][7] or, as the OED and Barnhart put it, a borrowing from early Scandinavian,[1][2] later reinforced by the modern forms Norwegian troll, Swedish troll and Danish trold.[1][6][8] The Old Norse word, also trǫll, named the huge primordial beings of Norse myth, a fiend or a werewolf.[1] Its origin is unknown.[1][8][9] Barnhart and Etymonline report the suggestion that it first meant a creature that walks clumsily, and connect it with the Germanic verb behind Middle High German trollen (“to walk with short steps”);[2][3] Wiktionary reconstructs Proto-Germanic *truzlą.[5] Merriam-Webster compares trolle (“ghostly monster, lout”),[6] which the OED takes to be itself a loan from Scandinavian.[1] The Shorter Oxford compares Old Norse trolldómr (“witchcraft”) and Swedish trolla (“to bewitch”).[8][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A supernatural or monstrous creature: the OED's first example is from Robert Mannyng's Chronicle, probably written in 1338 and copied before 1400.[1] Etymonline calls this an isolated use, noting also a Willelmus Trol in a list of names of 1212,[3] and the OED notes troll in several 14th-century place names in the north and east of England, though it is not sure that they contain this word.[1] The Shorter Oxford says the first, rare, use was for a witch or sorceress.[8]

Semantic evolution

Barnhart's first example is Scottish, from 1616,[2] and Etymonline dates the general use from the 1610s.[3] Weekley says the word was brought into literary English by antiquaries, like other words of Norse myth such as rune and norn, but had been in popular use since Scandinavian times in Orkney and Shetland, as trow;[7][9] Wright records troll there for a fairy or goblin, and Troll-houlland for a hill thought to be haunted by them.[10] In later folklore trolls became giants or dwarfs living in caves, hills or under bridges.[1][8][6] From 1697 the word was used of an unpleasant, brutish or ugly person, in a letter of John Evelyn;[1] American campus slang used it for an ugly man or woman from 1940.[11] The internet troll, someone who posts provocative messages to anger others, is recorded from 1992 on Usenet.[1] The OED thinks it may be a development of this noun, alluding to the malice and supposed looks and lonely life of such posters, or else come from the verb troll;[1] the Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins says that the two words seem to have fallen together in the internet use.[4]

Timeline

  • 1212 – Willelmus Trol, a personal name.[3]
  • ?a1400 – a monstrous creature, in Mannyng's Chronicle.[1]
  • 1616 – (Scottish) a troll.[2]
  • 1697 – an unpleasant or ugly person.[1]
  • 1940 – (US campus slang) an ugly person.[11]
  • 1992 – an internet troll.[1]
  • 1995 – a provocative online post.[1]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. In Scandinavian folklore, a supernatural creature, a giant or dwarf, living in caves, hills or under bridges.
  2. Someone who posts deliberately offensive or provocative messages online to anger others; also, such a message.
  3. (informal) An unpleasant or ugly person.

Word family

  • trollish

troll2 to stroll; to fish

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English trollen (“to go about, stroll”), probably borrowed from Old French troller (“to wander, go in quest of game”), a hunting term (modern trôler),[3][2][12][6] which is usually traced to a Germanic source; compare Middle High German trollen (“to walk with short steps”) (modern German trollen).[2][3][6][13] The OED's revised entry calls the origin uncertain and thinks several words may have merged: the French verb, which may go back to an unrecorded Late Latin *tragulō (“to drag”) (the source of trail); the German verb; and, for the fishing senses, Anglo-Norman troiller (“to wind yarn onto a reel”), ultimately from Latin trahō (“to draw, drag”).[1] Hoad also calls it of unknown origin.[9] Weekley thinks the angling sense may be a separate word, related to a word for a little wheel,[7] and Etymonline thinks the fishing sense may have been confused with trail or trawl.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To wander or stroll: Langland's Piers Plowman, in the phrase trolled forth,[1][11] written before 1387 according to Barnhart[2] and dated about 1400 in the OED, from a manuscript of the B-text of about 1378.[1]

Semantic evolution

The idea of moving round and round runs through the verb's senses: to roll or trundle (1440), to pass a drinking cup round a company (about 1570), and to sing a song in the manner of a round or catch, and so in a full, rolling voice (1574 in the OED, 1575 in Barnhart).[1][2][3] Johnson (1755) defined it "to move circularly; to drive about" and "to roll; to run round".[14] To fish by drawing a bait or lure through the water, especially behind a moving boat, is recorded from about 1600 (1606 in Barnhart),[3][2] and the figurative sense "to lure, entice" from the 1560s.[3] The noun, formed on the verb, meant a small wheel or a reel on a fishing rod from 1570,[1][2] the method of fishing from 1682, the lure from 1801, and a song sung in parts from 1820.[1][3] In 1967 troll was recorded in homosexual slang for cruising in search of a sexual partner,[3][8] and since 1990 the noun has also meant a thorough search, like trawl.[1] The internet verb, to post provocative messages to an online forum or person, is recorded from 1992;[1] it may be a use of the noun troll, or a development of this verb, comparing the poster to an angler trailing bait.[1][3] In Cornwall troll also meant to twist or sprain the foot, and in Norfolk to tire with walking.[10]

Timeline

  • c. 1400 – to stroll, wander (before 1387 in Barnhart).[1][2]
  • 1440 – to roll, trundle.[1]
  • 1560s – to lure, entice.[3]
  • 1570 – noun, a little wheel or reel.[1][2]
  • c. 1570 – to pass a drinking vessel round.[1]
  • 1574 – to sing heartily.[1]
  • c. 1600 – to fish with a trailing line.[3]
  • 1682 – noun, fishing by trolling.[1]
  • 1820 – noun, a song sung in parts.[1][3]
  • 1967 – to cruise for a sexual partner.[3]
  • 1992 – to post provocative messages online.[1]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To fish by drawing a baited line or lure through the water, especially behind a slowly moving boat.
  2. To post deliberately provocative messages to a person or forum online.
  3. (British, informal) To stroll or saunter: We trolled down to the pub after dinner.
  4. (slang) To cruise about in search of a sexual partner.
  5. To search thoroughly; to trawl.
  6. (archaic) To sing a song heartily, or in the parts of a round.
  7. To roll or turn round and round.

Noun

  1. The act of trolling for fish.
  2. A lure, or a line and lure, used in trolling.
  3. A song sung in parts in succession; a round or catch.

Word family

  • troller
  • trolling
  • trolley
  • trawl
  • trail
  • trollop
  • trow

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  6. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b c d Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  8. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  10. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  11. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  12. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  13. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.