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A comment on A Man Who Coined the Word "Robot" Defends Himself. Parent comment

Re:A Man Who Coined the Word "Robot" Defends Himself by dvdkon on Monday January 22, 2024 @08:57AM (#39089573)
> "Robota" is a job or some work that one has to do, not necessarily forced as Google suggests.

This is a popular misconception among speakers of other slavic languages, but the Czech word "robota" really does refer to forced work performed by feudal serfs: https://prirucka.ujc.cas.cz/?slovo=robota

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Re:A Man Who Coined the Word "Robot" Defends Himself by neuromanser on Monday January 22, 2024 @12:58PM (#39092817)
Yes, robota has a different meaning in Czech (mandatory work performed by serfs for the benefit of their landlord) than in eg. Slovak or Russian where it means simply "work". Cf. Slovak phrase "Idem do roboty".

Btw Rossum in “Rossum’s Universal Robots” means "Reason".

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