- carrel (n.)
- 1590s, "study in a cloister," from Medieval Latin carula "small study in a cloister," of unknown origin; perhaps from Latin corolla "little crown, garland," used in various senses of "ring" (e.g. of Stonehenge: "þis Bretons renged about þe feld, þe karole of þe stones beheld," 1330); extended to precincts and spaces enclosed by rails, etc. Specific sense of "private cubicle in a library" is from 1919.