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The word made sense, I was just surprised there was a special word for rolling robot movement, hopefully it gets more use in the future as robots become more co

The word made sense, I was just surprised there was a special word for rolling robot movement, hopefully it gets more use in the future as robots become more common.

fuzztester 2y ago
Yes, I did know that the word trundle made sense, because I have come across it before in books, as a kid, in stories for children. E.g. "The gardener trundled his wheelbarrow along the (garden) path." (The word is not use much nowadays; archaic, as the dictionary entry says.) I was only speculating about the connection between the two words (trundle and treadmill), because they sound vaguely similar. Maybe they have a common Latin or Old English or Old German root, as many English words do. Update: I checked, and it seems I may have been partly / loosely correct about the etymological connection: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/trundle https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/trundle Etymology Noun and Verb from trundle small wheel, alteration of earlier trendle, from Middle English, circle, ring, wheel, from Old English trendel; akin to Old English trendan to revolve https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/treadmill https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/treadmill c : a mill worked by persons treading on steps on the periphery of a wide wheel having a horizontal axis https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tread https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tread tread 2 of 2 noun 1 a(1) : the part of a wheel or tire that makes contact with a road or rail Italics mine.
- vitus 2y ago
  This sounds more like convergent evolution rather than a shared root. Tread derives from Middle English treden; the difference here is to step vs to roll. The latter definition you cite is a newer usage (from the 20th century) which is more directly analogous to the tread on the bottom of one's shoe. The use of a wheel in a treadmill seems more like an implementation detail; the obvious tie-in (IMO) is "persons treading on steps".

The word made sense, I was just surprised there was a special word for rolling robot movement, hopefully it gets more use in the future as robots become more common.

fuzztester 2y ago

Yes, I did know that the word trundle made sense, because I have come across it before in books, as a kid, in stories for children. E.g. "The gardener trundled his wheelbarrow along the (garden) path." (The word is not use much nowadays; archaic, as the dictionary entry says.) I was only speculating about the connection between the two words (trundle and treadmill), because they sound vaguely similar. Maybe they have a common Latin or Old English or Old German root, as many English words do. Update: I checked, and it seems I may have been partly / loosely correct about the etymological connection: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/trundle https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/trundle Etymology Noun and Verb from trundle small wheel, alteration of earlier trendle, from Middle English, circle, ring, wheel, from Old English trendel; akin to Old English trendan to revolve https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/treadmill https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/treadmill c : a mill worked by persons treading on steps on the periphery of a wide wheel having a horizontal axis https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tread https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tread tread 2 of 2 noun 1 a(1) : the part of a wheel or tire that makes contact with a road or rail Italics mine.

vitus 2y ago
This sounds more like convergent evolution rather than a shared root. Tread derives from Middle English treden; the difference here is to step vs to roll. The latter definition you cite is a newer usage (from the 20th century) which is more directly analogous to the tread on the bottom of one's shoe. The use of a wheel in a treadmill seems more like an implementation detail; the obvious tie-in (IMO) is "persons treading on steps".