Re: VL - Vulcan in Vulcan
McReynolds 
Mon, 20 Oct 1997 15:43:59 -0500


-----Original Message-----
From: Saul Epstein <liberty*uit,net>
To: vulcan-linguistics*shikahr,com,inter,net
<vulcan-linguistics*shikahr,com,inter,net>
Date: Monday, October 20, 1997 8:08 AM
Subject: Re: VL - Vulcan in Vulcan


> Of course, it is contrived in both cases, but I find this scenario,
> that the FedStandard words "Vulcan" and "Cardassia" derive from
> actual Vulcan and Cardassian words respectively, much preferable to
> the scenario in which Federation explorers "christen" other people as
> they see fit.

Ah... but the Terran's wouldn't have to christen a people, per se, only a
planet.  I mean, we've heard of "Denebians" on Star trek, too, but I doubt
if the Denebians call themselves Denebians!  Damn the Universal Translator!

Perhaps the humans discovered a world orbiting 40 Eridani using telescopes,
and named it "Vulcan" when evidence was found that it was a hot world.
Then, while the inhabitants of that world were observing Earth and learning
our language, they came accross our word for their world, Vulcan.  When they
landed in Montana, 2063, they spoke perfect (pre Universal Translator)
English and used our word for themselves rather than their own, which would
presumably be much harder to pronounce or understand by humans.

> After all, "Vulcan" is a Terran word, but "Cardassia" is not. Where
> should we suppose it came from? Conversely, if some Vulcan word
> having to do with the planet or its people had not sounded like a
> Terran word, it too would most likely have been subjected to
> FedStandard morphology. "T'Khasi" might very well have been
> rendered "Tacossia."

Like I said, I presume that most of the names such as Vulcan, Romulus, etc.,
are named prior to contact with the inhabitants.  Other worlds, such as
Kronos or Ferenginar, were only named AFTER contact with the people, and are
transliterations of the words in the native tongue.

> Yes, although "Q'ing" would have done as well. And isn't there a word
> something like "tlhingan" for the language or the people?

I happen to study {tlhIngan Hol}.  Yes, a word similar to "Kling" would be
pretty appropriate; point taken.

(As a side note: {'} is a consonant in {Hol}, which cannot fall adjacent to
another consonant.  As such, {Q'Ing} would not be a valid word.  The closest
thing to "Kling" would be {tlhIng}.  {tlh} and {ng} are separate consonants,
and not clusters.)

> T'Khasi works for me as well, and I'm not attached to W~L'q'n, other
> than for what I personally find a more palatable explanation for the
> FedStandard name. No account that I'm aware of puts Terrans in a
> position to have named the planet before contact with its
> inhabitants. And I'm not suggesting that "Vulcan" was chosen because
> of any association with the god; only that it was chosen on the basis
> of a phonetic similarity. The god is associated with fire, to be
> sure, but not with heat per se, let alone deserts, bright sun,
> strength, stoicism, or analytical intelligence...


I've already shared my take on this concept.  A good example is the
flashbacks in "The Romulan Way."  An Earth ship discovers a world in the 128
Trianguli system and calls it Romulus, after an old god (although they later
realize that they misspelled Romus!).  Even after contact was made with the
Rihannsu, they never changed the name in English.

-McReynolds