In an era defined by fast-moving digital transformations and technological innovations, the word ‘robot’ has become a staple in the everyday vocabulary. But what do we know about its etymology?
The term was first used in a 100-year-old play by Czech playwright Karel Čapek, titled Rossumovi Universal ni Roboti (Rossum’s Universal Robots). While Karel was credited to be the first person to have used the term, it was his brother Josef, a cubist painter, who had come up with the term that came from the Slavic word robota, which means “serfdom” or “forced labor.”
The word perfectly suits Čapek’s three-act drama, popularly known as R.U.R.
Čapek was an emerging literary star in Czechoslovakia at the time of writing of the play when he used “robot” to describe the “artificial workers” and “living and intelligent working machines.” R.U.R skillfully portrays the potential vicious influence of technology to society where modernity is controlled not by ideas and values, but self-confident and ruthless intellect and greed. The play was staged for the first time at the Czech National Theatre on January 25, 1921, and has since been translated and performed in more than 30 countries.
To mark R.U.R’s centennial celebration, the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Manila in partnership with Ateneo de Naga University Press recently published the Filipino translation of R.U.R., translated by the late Filipino novelist, playwright, and short story writer, Rogelio Sicat. Designed by Ryan Cuatrona, the book also contains illustrations by John Sherwin Acampado.
“It is our aim and passion at the Czech Embassy in Manila to promote the usage of mother tongue in the Philippines and to introduce masterpieces of Czech language in local languages,” says Czech Ambassador Jana Šedivá. “R.U.R. by Karel Čapek is a real jewelry of Czech classical literature and I am pleased that Filipino readers can now read this extraordinary book in Filipino.”
“This translation of Karel Čapek by one of the country’s topmost Filipino writers, Rogelio Sicat, is a welcome addition to the growing titles we have that is borne out of the friendship between the Embassy of Czech Republic and the Ateneo de Naga University Press,” says Kristian Cordero, deputy director of Ateneo de Naga University Press.
Literature played an important role in the cultural relations of the Czech Republic and the Republic of the Philippines where there had been a rich growth of exchange, translation, and publication of both Czech and Filipino literatures over the past years. Among the previously published books with Ateneo de Naga University Press are Patid: Mga Kontemporaneong Kwento ng mga Czech at Slovak na Manunulat, and Malikmata: Mga Kuwentong Kababalaghan Mula Czech Republic.
Limited copies of the books are sold at Savage Mind Bookshop in Naga City, Camarines Sur.
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