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I don't think there is good evidence to suggest a connection between English robot and Latin labor (earlier labos), but robot is cognate with German Arbeit [1].
by stevula 9y ago
I don't think there is good evidence to suggest a connection between English robot and Latin labor (earlier labos), but robot is cognate with German Arbeit [1]. All the sources I normally use say labor is of uncertain etymology.
It is not enough to just rationalize a possible set of sound changes that would lead to a transformation; you need to also prove that such sound changes are consistent with sound changes that normally occur in the divergence of two related languages.
1. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=robot http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=robot
- interfixus 9y agoActually, looking up the Sanskrit for 'work' suggests to me that I am on fairly solid ground: '√अरर्य'. transcribed as 'ararya'.
- stevula 9y agoThat word is actually from the word for "awl" and means "to (work with) awl". There are lots of phonological coincidences in languages, which is why the methodology I was hinting at is so important.
- interfixus 9y agoI know there are. But listen, we agree on the relatedness of Slav 'rabo/robo' and Germanic 'Arbeit' (same in all Scandinavian languages), right? That relatedness very clearly suggests a very old, common Indoeuropean ancestor. Latin 'labor' really doesn't sound like an all to unikely cousin, then.