Vulcans are from Vulcan

[gastrof]

Words change.

Speaking English, we call an ancient nationality "the Anglos" (as in "Anglo-Saxon"), but the country of their descendants is called England.

The country we call "Germany" is called "Deutchland" by its own people, and they call themselves the "Deutch" ("Doitch"). We call them "German".

In Spanish, the same country is called "Alemania".

Different names for different peoples and places depending on who's saying it. Sometimes a name for a nationality (or planetary race?) doesn't match up with the place they're from. Sometimes it does.

Eh!

 

[Michael]

^ Just a minor correction: Germans call themselves "Deutsche". As in "we are Deutsche" or "we are the Deutschen". "I am a Deutsch" would sound really silly in German.

 

[Basill]

Is Vulcan a planet with a higher than normal volcanic activity? I know its a desert world.

I don't know if excessive volcanic activity was ever mentioned or implied in Trek's early years, but I suspect the harsh desert climate was part of Mr. Spock's character background available from the beginning to writers and producers. In the 40+ years of Trek lore we have been exposed to, Vulcan has since been seen to exhibit a good amount flowing lava, but in the early years something tells me that the harsh desert climate was itself a metaphor for the fires and hot metalworking that the Roman god was known for. It also implies that the Vulcan's "Forge" (long before the Enterprise episode) is what made the Vulcanians into the rigid strong-as-steel species we have come to know and love (Illogical). It's just flowing to the brim with metaphor really. It is one of the reasons I favor Vulcan as the human name for the planet and species.

I also love how McCoy mentions an old saying in Amok Time, "hot as Vulcan." Such a colloquialism demonstrates just how long these two species have been aware of one another regardless of how many barriers might still separate them.

 

[Anwar]

I think the explanation in-universe is that Vulcan used to be more like a class-M world once, but the old Vulcan wars trashed the place so bad it became the way it is in ENT+.

 

[Delta1]

Also, why is it necessary for a species' homeworld to correspond to a species' name? Afterall, humans are from Earth.

Humans are from Humus, of course.

 

[Sci]

So Vulcans are from Vulcan, and Romulans are from Romulus; Andorians are from Andoria;

Or Andor, depending on whether you prefer ENT's name or DS9's name for the Andorian homeworld.

you got your Bajorans from Bajor and your Cardassians from Cardassia, and your Klingons from .... Kronos?

Qo'noS, actually.

Seriously, wtf? Who's responsible for this? How did this happen?

Presumably, Nicholas Meyer and the late Denny Martin Flynn, who wrote the screenplay for Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, wherein the name Qo'noS was first established.

Personally, I like it and think it makes a lot more sense than having the aliens' name for themselves be the same as their planet's name all the time. After all, we aren't Humans from Huma, nor Earthans from Earth; we're Humans from Earth. Why wouldn't aliens have different names for their species and their homeworld?

The Klingon homeworld was called Kling in the TNG episode Heart of Glory. Someone must have thought it sounded silly because by the season three episode Sins of the father Picard instead calls it the Homeworld of the Klingon Imperial Empire.

Did he really call it the "Klingon Imperial Empire?" That's really silly. That's like talking about a federal federation or royal kingdom -- or, for that matter, a deadly assassin or a fatal death.

 

[Timo]

I seem to remember a novel or two calling the Klingon homeworld Klinzhai.

It wouldn't be difficult to consider all the versions correct.

The name of the planet could be Qo'noS - possibly the ancient word for earth or dirt in the local lingo. Or in one of them anyway.

The name equivalent to "mankind" or "humanity" would be Klin. Thus, a "Klingon" would be a member of the Klin, or a follower of the ways of Klin. In "Heart of Glory", the two renegades would have considered the rest of their species back home "traitors of Klin" because they had abandoned those ways. But those "traitors" would mirror such feelings, and so the renegades would be taken "back to Klin" to atone for their crimes, that is, re-embraced by the society (although obviously the embrace of the Klin would not be very gentle).

And Klinzhai would directly translate as "the home of Klin", more commonly translated as "the Klingon homeworld".

The name of the language in turn could very well be as John M. Ford put it, "Klingonaase" being the tool for promoting Klin (as "aase" or "kaase" is equated with "tool" or "weapon" or "hand" elsewhere in the novel). Of course, Feds would simply say "Klingonese" in a bastardization that fits their own language better.

Or Andor, depending on whether you prefer ENT's name or DS9's name for the Andorian homeworld.

The difference might be that Andor (or Vulcan or Talax) is the homeworld, while Andoria (or Vulcania or Talaxia) is the interstellar empire led by that homeworld.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Sci]

Or Andor, depending on whether you prefer ENT's name or DS9's name for the Andorian homeworld.

The difference might be that Andor (or Vulcan or Talax) is the homeworld, while Andoria (or Vulcania or Talaxia) is the interstellar empire led by that homeworld.

Unlikely. ENT's "The Aenar" used the term "Andoria" to rather specifically refer to the celestial body from which the Andorians and Aenar originate and which they inhabit, and ENT had earlier established the name of the Andorian state to be "the Andorian Empire."

 

[Anwar]

The Star Trek Star-Charts book said that the Bajoran Homeworld is really called B'Haval or something like that, we just call it Bajor as a designation.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Or Andor, depending on whether you prefer ENT's name or DS9's name for the Andorian homeworld.

The difference might be that Andor (or Vulcan or Talax) is the homeworld, while Andoria (or Vulcania or Talaxia) is the interstellar empire led by that homeworld.

Unlikely. ENT's "The Aenar" used the term "Andoria" to rather specifically refer to the celestial body from which the Andorians and Aenar originate and which they inhabit, and ENT had earlier established the name of the Andorian state to be "the Andorian Empire."

Andoria could refer to the moon that the Andorians live on, Andor could refer to the planet (there's been speculation the writers did that intentionally to explain the discrepancy, but I don't know).

 

[Sci]

The Star Trek Star-Charts book said that the Bajoran Homeworld is really called B'Haval or something like that, we just call it Bajor as a designation.

Actually, Star Charts is referring to the proper name for the Bajoran star, Bajor B'hava'el. This name was first established in The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Technical Manuel and has been used in the Relaunch novels.

 

[Sci]

The difference might be that Andor (or Vulcan or Talax) is the homeworld, while Andoria (or Vulcania or Talaxia) is the interstellar empire led by that homeworld.

Unlikely. ENT's "The Aenar" used the term "Andoria" to rather specifically refer to the celestial body from which the Andorians and Aenar originate and which they inhabit, and ENT had earlier established the name of the Andorian state to be "the Andorian Empire."

Andoria could refer to the moon that the Andorians live on, Andor could refer to the planet (there's been speculation the writers did that intentionally to explain the discrepancy, but I don't know).

Which makes no sense, since Kai Winn referred to "Andor" when listing inhabited Federation worlds, not lifeless planets that those inhabited worlds orbit. Why would she refer to Andor in a list of Federation species' homeworlds if the Andorians are actually from Andoria?

A more logical explanation would be that the Andorian homeworld has two names: Andoria and Andor. Similarly, Germany is also known as Deutschland, Span is España, etc. And in English, both "Earth" and "Terra" are acceptable names for our planet. Another possibility is that Andoria is an area on Andor (or vice versa) that is often used inaccurately to refer to the whole world, similar to how England is an area within Great Britain
that is often inaccurately used to refer to all of Great Britain.

 

[Balthier the Great]

I have a sort of different take on what's going on. I think they aren't necesarily referring to species so much as citizenship. To be more plain, I think that a Vulcan living on Earth might be referred to as Terran and a Human on Vulcan is a Vulcan. Just like Earth -- I'm American by nationality, even though my ethnicity is largely German. Ethnically, I'm German, but I'm an American.

But in the trekverse, just like our universe, most people tend to live in their ancestral homelands. Most people living in Germany are ethnic Germans, most people living in China are Han Chinese, etc. So it wouldn't be surprising for a person chosen at random from a planet would be of a species that evolved on that planet. It's possible that if you visit Vulcan, you'll find a human, but probably 95% of the people you meet on Vulcan are Vulcans. It might be different on colonies -- I would expect a Fed colony to look like a futuristic New York City.