Re: VL - Vulcan in Vulcan
Rob Zook 
Mon, 20 Oct 1997 17:30:58 -0500

At 06:03 PM 10/20/97 +0100, Adam wrote:
>Chances are, the English word for "Vulcan" would neither be
>derived nor similar to the Vulcan word for "Vulcan". If you
>understand Human nature, they probably picked the English
>word for "Vulcan" without even asking Vulcans what they
>thought.
>
>My guess ... a Human must have stepped foot on a Vulcan
>vessel, and found that their climate control was set to a
>very high temperature, and immediately assumed that these
>creatures were clones of Vulcan, the Roman equivalent of
>Hepheastus.

Well, how about this: as someone else has pointed out,
Vulcan/Hepheastus has nothing to do with heat or deserts. 
The only thing about Vulcan which seems related to heat
was he was the smith to the Gods.

It could be a planet we detected before we met the species
and like normal astronomical tradition we named it after one of
the Roman dieties - Vulcan.


Rob Z.
--------------------------------------------------------
If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps 
it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step 
to the music which he hears, however measured or far away. 
-- Henry David Thoreau