Does anyone know the etymology of, rosary?

I read recently that the first rosaries were made with beads of rolled up rose petals and thus, the name. Another explanation is that the rose is symbolic of Mary and since Hail Marys are common in the traditional prayer, the name choice was automatic.

Incidentally, the word bead itself came from a rosary! Old English gebed prayer, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch bede and German Gebet

An AWAD search brought this up and the gaud-gaudy etymology!
http://wordsmith.org/board/showflat.pl?Cat=&Board=words&Number=874

From Gurunet:
[Middle English, rose garden, from Medieval Latin rosârium, rose garden, rosary, from Latin, rose garden, from neuter of rosârius, of roses, from rosa, rose.]

I tried making some rose-petal beads a few years ago: I'd read that their fragrance can last for years; decades, even, though fainter of course. But, as I did not have the prescribed mortar and pestle, I ran them through the food processor. Didn't work--they fell apart.

i have heare the same (rosary is from the name of the beads, which were originally made from rose petals.) but don't have any sourse better than yours.

it's still not uncommon to find rosaries with rose shaped beads, either carved or molded that way. --i still go to church for wakes and weddings, and see such things.