A javascript page to generate round robin pairings is here:
http://bellsouthpwp.net/w/b/wbport/chess_etc/crenshaw.htm
I believe the original term in French meant "round ribbon". This term makes sense since an odd number of players on a closed "belt" or "ribbon" march around a long table while one player on the end stays put. Somehow the word for "ribbon" was mis-translated to "robin" and the term stuck.
Apparently there was an older use for the term "Round Robin" - seemingly portraying carachteristics of someone round and called robin - already used in the English language. So I guess the similarities made the old term catch on but with the new meaning.
Interestingly enough the old meaning of Round Robin seems forgotten...
The pages about Round Robing scheduling are really interesting. I was wondering how useful other automatic scheduling sites can be such as http://www.CardsTourney.com