Where does the term home automation come from?

Often, we can guess the meaning of a word from a little background in Latin or Ancient Greek. Home automation is no exception. So if you were wondering where the term domotics comes fromyes, it derives from these two languages. Find out more about their etymology in this article and store another curious fact in your brain.

If you passed Latin in high school, you can guess what is home automation.

Etymology of the word "domotics".

Home automation makes it possible to automate domestic tasks such as raising or lowering roller blinds. However, although it is a modern technology, its concept refers to old-fashioned terms.

Let's go part by part. First of all, where does the word domotics come from? Nothing more and nothing less than from Latin. We could also say that this term derives from two Latin words:

• On the one hand, domus. This word means house, as you probably already know. It is the origin of words like: domesticate, domesticate or dominion.
• On the other hand, the suffix -ticawhich means "relating to".

Therefore, based on this minimal knowledge, we know that home automation is related to the home.

Some say, however, that it also comes from the Latin word freelancewhich in turn comes from the Greek αὐτόνομος and means "something that governs itself". Consequently, we see home automation as something related to the home that controls itself.

The RAEThe word we are studying today, on the other hand, he notes the following:

f. form, from lat. domus home' and automaticThe

Definition of home automation

Having seen where the term home automation comes from, let us clarify what it means in more detail. Since we have already mentioned the Royal Spanish AcademyThe latter has two meanings:

1. adj. Pertaining or relating to home automation.
2. f. A set of systems that automate the different installations of a dwelling.

A system, on the other hand, is a series of interrelated things that contribute to a certain object.

While automate means to apply automatic procedures in the realisation of a process.

In English, home automation is called Home Networking or Smart Home.

In short, we refer to home automation when a system can automate a homeThe new system provides wellbeing, security, communication and even energy savings.

This system, either wireless or wired, helps to manage our home in a simple way, thanks to the fact that its different devices are intelligent and capable of carrying out actions when we order them remotely.

This kind of system collects information by means of sensors, which process and transmit commands to actuators or outputs.

Terms related to home automation

Finally, we must explain the following terms that are related to home automation:

• InmoticsHome automation: This term is used when home automation is applied in the tertiary sector. That is to say, when it is developed in non-residential buildings or constructions. For example, hotels, offices, shopping centres, hospitals, etc.
• UrbóticaThis word is used when home automation is applied at city level.

This leads us to mention two other terminologies:

• BMS: Building Management System.
• Smart CitySmart City.

As you can see, these are related to inmotics and urobotics, respectively.

While we're on the subject of smart cities and smart homes, don't forget to take a look at our post on smart cities and smart homes. home automation or Smart House.

Conclusion

You have seen where the term domotics comes from and what it means. We are talking about a discipline that has many applications within the home, with which you can efficiently manage your household appliances. For example, you can install motors and automatisms for roller blinds The result is that they open or close automatically. All of this ultimately increases people's quality of life.