1937, from Italian, plural of tortellino, diminutive of tortello "cake, fritter," itself a diminutive of torta (see torte).
Entries linking to tortellini
torte n.
"sweet cake, tart," 1748, from German Torte; earlier sense of "round cake, round bread" (1550s) is from French torte; both are from Late Latin torta "flat cake," also "round loaf of bread" (also source of Italian torte, Spanish torta), probably related to tart (n.1). Not considered to be from the source of tort.