Newsgroups: sci.lang
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From: stevemac@bud.indirect.com (Pascal MacProgrammer)
Subject: Robots
Message-ID: <D4xt5t.GDC@indirect.com>
Sender: usenet@indirect.com (Internet Direct Admin)
Organization: Department of Redundancy Department
Date: Sat, 4 Mar 1995 22:29:52 GMT
X-Disclaimer: I have nothing to disclaim, deny, or disavow.
Lines: 16

Not so very long ago, Andre@shappski.demon.co.uk said...
>Does anyone know the origin of the word "robot"? I had a feeling it
>might be related to the Russian "rabotat", to work, which some
>dictionaries indicate (although they quote Czech and Old Slavonic). 

  It was coined by Karel Capek [inverted circumflex over the "C"] in a 
play that he wrote, called "R.U.R." (which stood for "Rossum's Universal 
Robots").  He no doubt based it on a word in his native language (Czech, 
I believe), for "worker", and the word is related to the Russian word you 
quoted.

-- 
                              ==----=                    Steve MacGregor
                             ([.] [.])                     Phoenix, AZ
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        Help stamp out, eliminate, and abolish redundancy!
