'widely-circulated' is formed from 'widely' (from 'wide' + '-ly', meaning 'over a large area or range') and 'circulated' (from 'circulate', meaning 'to move or spread around').

'widely-circulated' is a modern English compound adjective, combining 'widely' and the past participle 'circulated', which comes from the Latin 'circulare' (to make round, to move in a circle).

Initially, 'circulate' meant 'to move in a circle', but in modern usage, it evolved to mean 'to spread or distribute', and 'widely-circulated' came to mean 'distributed to many people or places'.