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The word also exists in Romanian. It's name of the work serfs had make for their lord, more specifically "hard, uninterupted, mandatory work".

Unlike other parts, serfs in Eastern Europe were pretty much slaves.

Interesting that it should be in Romanian also.

No doubt there degrees of badness, but my impression is that the serf's life was never particularly enjoyable.

My (english speaker) laptop's hostname is "rabotnik" for just this reason.

I read it just a few weeks ago for the first time. It was indeed quite short and entertaining.