Editing Karel Čapek (section)

== Etymology of ''robot'' ==
[[Image:R.U.R. by Karel %C4%8Capek 1939.jpg|right|thumb|''[[R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots)|R.U.R.]]'' theatrical poster, 1939]]
Karel Čapek introduced and made popular the frequently used international word ''[[Robot#Etymology|robot]]'', which first appeared in his play ''[[R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots)|R.U.R.]]'' in 1920. While it is frequently thought that he was the originator of the word, he wrote a short letter in reference to an article in the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' [[etymology]] in which he named his brother, painter and writer [[Josef Čapek]], as its actual inventor.<ref>[http://capek.misto.cz/english/robot.html Karel Capek&nbsp;– Who did actually invent the word "robot" and what does it mean?] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204135259/http://capek.misto.cz/english/robot.html |date=4 February 2012 }} at capek.misto.cz</ref><ref>[[Ivan Margolius]],'The Robot of Prague',  Newsletter, The Friends of Czech Heritage no. 17, Autumn 2017, pp. 3–6.  https://czechfriends.net/images/RobotsMargoliusJul2017.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170911115134/https://czechfriends.net/images/RobotsMargoliusJul2017.pdf |date=11 September 2017 }}</ref>

In an article in the Czech journal ''[[Lidové noviny]]'' in 1933, he also explained that he had originally wanted to call the creatures ''laboři'' (from Latin ''labor'', work). However, he did not like the word, seeing it as too artificial, and sought advice from his brother Josef, who suggested ''roboti'' (''robots'' in English).<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Šára |first1=Filip |last2=Bobíková |first2=Lenka |title=Před 130 lety se narodil literární velikán, který dal světu robota. Toto slovo však nevymyslel |url=https://www.novinky.cz/clanek/historie-pred-130-lety-se-narodil-literarni-velikan-ktery-dal-svetu-robota-toto-slovo-vsak-nevymyslel-40309280 |access-date=2023-12-18 |website=[[Novinky.cz]] |date=9 January 2020 |language=cs}}</ref>

The word ''robot'' comes from the word ''robota''. The word robota means literally "[[corvée]]", "serf labor", and figuratively "drudgery" or "hard work" in Czech. It also means "work", "labor" in colloquial [[Slovak (language)|Slovak]], archaic Czech, and many other Slavic languages (e.g., [[Bulgarian (language)|Bulgarian]], [[Russian (language)|Russian]], [[Serbian (language)|Serbian]], [[Polish (language)|Polish]], [[Macedonian (language)|Macedonian]], [[Ukrainian (language)|Ukrainian]], etc.). It derives from the reconstructed [[Proto-Slavic language|Proto-Slavic]] word [[wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/orbota|*orbota]], meaning "work, hard work, obligatory work for the king, or a short form used for plowing".