*SET-U

PERMANENT SOURCE RECORD

ALL SOURCES ↗
BIBLIOGRAPHIC IDENTITYmw-orphan

SOURCE
RECORD.

One work. Every claim that depends on it. No citation without a consequence you can inspect.

CLAIM-LEVEL USAGE

5 PUBLIC LINKS INTO THE GRAPH.

This count excludes duplicate dossier-path citations. Open the claims below to see exactly how the source is used.

historical dictionarymw-orphan

Orphan — Indo-European Etymology

AUTHOR / EDITOR
Merriam-Webster Editors
YEAR
2026
PUBLISHER
Merriam-Webster
DOI
Not recorded
SOURCE TYPE
historical dictionary
EXTERNAL RECORD
OPEN ORIGINAL ↗
2CANONICAL EDGES
0WITNESSES
2COMPARISONS
0CONTEXT LINKS
0RANKED REVEALS
1DISPUTES
0JOURNEY STAGES
1WORD DOSSIERS
01

CONTRARIAN TRUTH CLAIMS

RANKED REVEALS THAT CITE THIS SOURCE

0
No ranked contrarian reveal currently cites this source.
02

SCHOLARLY DISAGREEMENT

DISPUTE POSITIONS THAT CITE THIS SOURCE

1
resolvedcontextprobable

Does robot literally mean orphan?

No. Robot descends immediately from Czech compulsory labor. Orphan belongs to a remote comparative family around transferred status, dependency, and bereavement; a distant root relationship is not a modern definition.

Indo-European *h₃órbhos family

Supplies the more remote status-transfer family that includes orphan.

robot dossier ↗dispute record ↗
03

CANONICAL RELATIONSHIP CLAIMS

EDGES THAT CITE THIS SOURCE

2
EDGE 99supportsprobable

*orbota → *h₃órbʰos

Proto-Slavic → Proto-Indo-European · derivation

SOUND
Proto-Slavic *orbota is analyzed within the *orb- family with an abstract noun suffix; comparison reaches the Indo-European *h₃orbʰ- family.
MEANING
Transfer of social status, dependency, bereavement, slavery, and obligatory labor form a reconstructed semantic network—not a single literal definition.
SCHOLAR / EDITOR
Merriam-Webster · Slavic etymological lexicography
Indo-European *h₃órbhos family

Connects Old Church Slavic rabŭ and the wider status-transfer family.

OPEN THE PERMANENT CLAIM ↗
EDGE 100supportsboundary

*h₃órbʰos → UNKNOWN

Proto-Indo-European → Beyond secure reconstruction · knowledge boundary

SOUND
No deeper form is promoted beyond the proposed Indo-European base.
MEANING
The graph stops where the comparative evidence currently stops.
SCHOLAR / EDITOR
SET-U editorial boundary
Indo-European boundary
OPEN THE PERMANENT CLAIM ↗
04

LEXICAL ATTESTATIONS

WITNESSES REPORTED BY THIS SOURCE

0
No lexical witness currently cites this source.
05

COMPARATIVE EVIDENCE

COGNATES, DESCENDANTS, AND RELATIVES

2
robot

rabŭ

Old Church Slavic

Slavic family member

robot

orphan

English / Greek lineage

distant Indo-European cousin

06

GEOGRAPHIC AND TEMPORAL CLAIMS

JOURNEY STAGES THAT CITE THIS SOURCE

0
No journey-stage claim currently cites this source.
07

NON-GENEALOGICAL CONNECTIONS

HISTORICAL CONTEXT, KEPT SEPARATE

0
No non-genealogical context link currently cites this source.
08

WORD-FAMILY REUSE

DOSSIERS THAT DEPEND ON THIS SOURCE

1
robot5 CLAIM LINKS↗

2 entry-scoped citations map reviewed dossier paths onto the canonical claims above.