More RE: Antedatings and Etymology of "Robot"

[W Brewer]

LH: <<<Curiously, all memory of the events described above seems to have
disappeared.  Well, it was before my time.>>>
WB:  If you'd just wear Ray-Ban sunglasses, you wouldn't need to be
deneuralized every other week.


On Sun, May 26, 2013 at 4:34 AM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: More RE: Antedatings and Etymology of "Robot"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On May 25, 2013, at 7:33 AM, Shapiro, Fred wrote:
>
> > I see in looking again at the August 1922 _New York Times_ article that
> there are other usages of "robot" there that seem to be even more clearly
> antedatings of the English word:
> >
> >
> >
> > 1922 _N.Y. Times_ 13 Aug. 78 (ProQuest Historical Newspapers)  Robots
> were by all means better for use in factories and in armies, making cheap
> labor material, and not causing any trouble as strikers.  The firm of
> Rosum, Ltd., supplied robots in thousands to all parts of the world.  Later
> the robots organize and wage a war against the people, during which the
> robots destroy all human beings.
> >
> >
> >
> Curiously, all memory of the events described above seems to have
> disappeared.  Well, it was before my time.
>
> LH
> >
> >
> >
> > ________________________________
> >
> > From: Shapiro, Fred
> > Sent: Saturday, May 25, 2013 7:21 AM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Cc: jester at panix.com
> > Subject: RE: Antedatings and Etymology of "Robot"
> >
> >
> > Correction to my last posting:  According to this authoritative-seeming
> website
> >
> >
> >
> > http://capek.misto.cz/english/robot.html
> >
> >
> >
> > the Czech word "robot" did not appear in Josef Capek's 1917 story,
> although Josef Capek was the one who suggested the word to his brother
> Karel.
> >
> >
> >
> > Fred Shapiro
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ________________________________
> >
> > From: Shapiro, Fred
> > Sent: Saturday, May 25, 2013 7:12 AM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Cc: jester at panix.com
> > Subject: Antedatings and Etymology of "Robot"
> >
> > Here is a very slight antedating of "robot":
> >
> > robot (OED, n.2, 10 Oct. 1922)
> > 1922 _N.Y. Tribune_ 8 Oct. (Chronicling America)  Robots are mechanical
> men invented to do the work of the world.
> >
> > I am not sure why the following earlier citation, posted by me on ADS-L
> in 2003, was not included in the OED's revised entry for "robot":
> >
> >
> > 1922 _N.Y. Times_ 13 Aug. 78  According to the Czechoslovaks -- "R.U.R."
> is a
> > Czechoslovak play -- the piece departs from many dramatic traditions.
>  The author is Karel
> > Capek, and the full title is "Rosum's Universal Robots."
> >
> > As I noted in 2003, the OED's etymology should probably be revised,
> since it refers to
> > Karel Capek's play "R.U.R." (1920), but not to the earlier Czech usage
> of "robot"
> > mentioned by Allan Metcalf in his book _The World In So Many Words_,
> namely Josef
> > Capek's short story "Opilec" (1917).
> >
> > Fred Shapiro
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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