It is partially true, in that both Russian and Czech come from Old Church Slavonic, where it does come from the verb for "work". All three of the languages use

It is partially true, in that both Russian and Czech come from Old Church Slavonic, where it does come from the verb for "work". All three of the languages use the same root. I was mistaken in thinking that Russian was the origin of the word - I am not familiar with all the languages that descend from OCS. You are correct that it comes not via Russian but via Czech: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=robot http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=robot