5 ms·

To add to the irony, "robot" comes from the Czech word "robotnik," meaning "slave." http://etymonline.com/index.php?search=robot http://etymonline.com/index.ph

• betaby 10y ago
  'Robotnik' is Russian and Polish for 'worker'. Etymologically [in Czech, Russian, Polish] it's closer to 'worker' and 'servant' than to 'slave'.
  • czechdeveloper 10y ago
    Well, the work was created by Karel Capek. In Czech language `robota` means forced labor for your lord. Robotnik is just guy performing it, it is not used in other way in Czech language.
    • betaby 10y ago
      Forced labor as work for feudal [medieval taxation] not like forced labor of slaves.
  • czechdeveloper 10y ago
    Fun fact, words 'slave' and 'Slav' comes from same word.
  • egeozcan 10y ago
    The word came from Czech, first use being from Karel Capek (checked some more sources, including the work from Sevan Nişanyan[1], an Armenian-Turkish language researcher, who would probably be unbiased in this matter). Another language with the same word used with a closer meaning does not always mean there is a connection. Etymology usually discovers connections which aren't intuitive at all. [1]: (Turkish) http://www.nisanyansozluk.com/?k=robot&x=0&y=0 http://www.nisanyansozluk.com/?k=robot&x=0&y=0
  • gavinpc 10y ago
    Yeah, actually this is how I remembered it from Webster's Third International many years ago, which I don't have anymore. Since then, I've become reliant on etymonline, which is handy, but somebody's hobby project[0]. A good reminder to trust the memory over the internet once in a while. [0] http://etymonline.com/bio.php http://etymonline.com/bio.php
  • varjag 10y ago
    It's "rabotnik" in Russian, and remarkably, "rab" does mean "slave". Czech is too distant however so any verbatim parallels are useless here.
• jkot 10y ago
  Word robot comes from word "robota". In feudalism that was form of taxation, paid with labor. Feudalism in Austria empire put many restrictions on people (impossible to move, needed permission to marry, no free religion etc), but was not really a slavery. Source: I read memoirs of guy who invented this word in theater play.