I recently found myself lacking knowledge about Kubernetes. I have read some posts about it, and I know it's like a management tool. It's somewhat similar to Composer and NPM for managing packages, but Kubernetes is for managing Docker containers. I didn't dive into it in the past because it was not relevant to me, and to be completely honest, I was running away from it (maybe scared). Now it's time to face it. 😬
As they say, knowing the name of the enemy is the first step towards winning! Today, I want to shed light on its name. Kubernetes!? For some reason, I didn't like it. It's a long word, and I always find myself struggling to pronounce it. 🤔
After researching, I found that Craig McLuckie, one of the founders of the Google-based Kubernetes project, said:
We had 13 other names we couldn’t get past Google’s legal department. It was the last day, and I had to pick something. I was driving into work, and I thought, ‘Well, [the technology] is like driving a container ship. What would the helmsman be called?’ So I tried to find something exotic. I had no idea what the Greek for that was. I had to look it up.
Basically, the word "κυβερνήτης" (Check How to pronounce κυβερνήτης) is a Greek term that translates to "helmsman" or "steersman" in English.
To make sure, I opened Google Translator and typed "helmsman" then translated it into Greek, which gave me "πηδαλιούχος" pronounced as "pidalioúchos." That's incorrect; it's not even close to Kubernetes's word sound. I dug deeper and found the Liddell & Scott Greek-to-English lexicon, published in 1909, which had these meanings: "steersman, helmsman, guide, governor" for "κυβερνήτης." on page 397, which I was looking for.
Now, what does "helmsman" mean?
A helmsman or helm (sometimes driver or steersman) is a person who steers a ship, sailboat, submarine, or any other type of maritime vessel or spacecraft.
Another question: Why do people mention it sometimes as K8s?
"K8s" is shorthand for Kubernetes because there are 8 letters between "K" and "s" in the word "Kubernetes" making it shorter and easier to type without spelling mistakes.
Now that I know the origin of "Kubernetes" I can sleep in peace. 😴
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