Non-"Standard" Alien Race Names

[HIj'Qa]

Gorn, Wadi, Dosi, Betazoid, Bynar, Brikar, Hermat, Tzenkethi, Metron, Voth, Hirogen, Kazon, Ocampa, Nasat, Gnalish, Pakwa-Thanh, Trill, Sti'atch, Axanar, Orion, Kobliad, Zakdorn, Benzite, Rhaanderite, Cairn, Grazerite, Trabe, Aaamazerite, Arkenite,

http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Category:Species

The thing that bugs me most when encountering a new species is the preponderance of 'x's, [roughly 18 from the Wiki list] 'z's [30!] and hyphens [17] in alien names. It strikes me as the author going for strange English spellings to create the impression alien-ness, instead of fleshing out the species with physical details and descriptions of habits and culture.

 

[captcalhoun]

the aliens in my OF anthology I'm writing all have simplistic human derived names since they don't communicate with four of the races and can't speak to one, only write. they're called:

The Hive (they have a hive-mind)
The Al-Cent (they're from Alpha Centauri)
the Cat-Women (they're felinoids with a gender imbalance to females)
the Lizard-Men (reptilians)
the Insectoids (guess)
the Hawk-Men (bird-like hominids)

 

[Timo]

The problem there is that it's still an Earth-based name. Ferenghi is actually the Turkish word for a Frenchman, and by extension a European.

I'm not sure this argument is valid. All the words imaginable and unimaginable have already been spoken here on Earth, and are part of some obscure language or another. This should in no way disqualify them as alien words.

And odds are, the person who came up with the name "Ferengi" had absolutely no idea that this Turkish word existed. He or she probably just thought that it sounded threatening - either subconsciously or consciously associating it with the English concept of "foe-reign", or then simply thinking the syllables were hostile by themselves. Retroactive application of false etymology shouldn't disqualify the word as alien, either.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Christopher]

How do you know the name "Ferengi" wasn't based on the Turkish word? For what it's worth, Memory Alpha says it is (well, actually the related Arabic/Farsi word farangi), though it doesn't cite a source to verify it.

 

[William Leisner]

And odds are, the person who came up with the name "Ferengi" had absolutely no idea that this Turkish word existed.

Really? So you think it's more likely that GR and his early TNG collaborators just happened to throw together a random set of syllables that just happened, by pure coincidence, to match a word that was the equivilent of "outsider" or "alien" in a human language?

And that the idea that GR or Gerrold or Fontana or any one of these people who had made their living with words for over two decades had never, ever picked this word up somewhere in their lives and filed it away in their heads as a cool-sounding word is just outside the realm of possiblity?

Really?

 

[TGTheodore]

After seeing lists of names so far, my hypothesis from about 30 years ago still holds true: were there no apostrophes or double vowels, there could be no science fiction.



--Ted

 

[Timo]

And that the idea that GR or Gerrold or Fontana or any one of these people who had made their living with words for over two decades had never, ever picked this word up somewhere in their lives and filed it away in their heads as a cool-sounding word is just outside the realm of possiblity?

Oh, as I explained, it's very likely that the word derives from subconscious processes. But it's pretty absurd to think that it derives from a Turkish word, when it's so far, far simpler to think that it comes from the English word "foreigner".

And yes, it is highly probable that the similarity to the Turkish word is just a coincidence. Insofar as the story about it meaning the French is true in the first place: it's just as possible that this is false etymology, and the word is merely a corruption of the more recent lingua franca "foreigner", rather than a modern continuation of the original "faranga" that referred to the invading and pillaging Francs.

Just think of "Darth Vader". The choice of the name was reputedly deliberately intended to convey "father" in addition to playing on "dark" and "invader" and a general sinister mood - but it's absurd to draw connections with the Dutch spelling of the word for father. That's going ass backward up the tree: Vader was created first, and it semi-coincidentally happened to match the Dutch spelling. I trust the same thing happened with "Ferengi", with 90:1 odds against the alternative where Turkish was the (unconscious) starting point.

Googling for connections makes this sort of false correlation far too easy. Not every correlation that exists is a meaningful one, or indicates a relationship. Indeed, a tiny minority of correlations really are, or do.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Christopher]

And that the idea that GR or Gerrold or Fontana or any one of these people who had made their living with words for over two decades had never, ever picked this word up somewhere in their lives and filed it away in their heads as a cool-sounding word is just outside the realm of possiblity?

Oh, as I explained, it's very likely that the word derives from subconscious processes. But it's pretty absurd to think that it derives from a Turkish word, when it's so far, far simpler to think that it comes from the English word "foreigner".

It's not absurd at all. Why is it absurd to believe that a writer would be unaware of a term from a non-Western language? Not every American is parochial and insular. Farangi and its variants are words that have been in common use in the Mideast, India, and North Africa for centuries. Any Westerner who's ever travelled to those parts of the world, or even read much about them, would probably be familiar with the term.

 

[Timo]

It's a possibility, but it is hardly the most likely one, since the "foreigner spelled differently" one is so much easier to come by. What is absurd is deciding that the connection exists unless the inventor of the word specifically states that this was his or her intention - because the vast majority of apparent connections between words falls in the category of "you read way too much into it, pal".

Do we have the true story behind "Jem'Hadar", for example? Sure, "hadar" is a real word, familiar to astronomers who also know their rigels and denebs - or to anybody who can google. And sure, the word (which refers to "ground" in Arabic) is associated with infantry terminology in Arabic-speaking militaries. But the inspiration behind most of these apostrophe-ridden names seems to be Mesoamerican, so odds once again are that the "connection" to the military terminology is coincidental. Unless the writer or his muse comes out and declares that he got "Jem'Hadar" from Saudi military manuals, of course.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[William Leisner]

It's a possibility, but it is hardly the most likely one, since the "foreigner spelled differently" one is so much easier to come by.

I'm sorry, but no, that's ridiculous. Your "foreigner spelled differently" theory would result in multiple possible names (Farrenir, Frinnar, Pho'rina, Ghou'ronn-e, etc), of which only one -- Ferengi -- would coincidentally be a real word in a real language, and even more coincidentally have the same meaning.

Here's the thing: your entire argument seems to be based on a belief that idea that GR (or whoever actually named the Ferengi) could not have been better educated than you, or have had a piece of information in his brain you don't. Why else would it be "unlikely" that he knew of the Turkish word and intentionally coopted it for his predominately English-speaking audience?

But the inspiration behind most of these apostrophe-ridden names seems to be Mesoamerican, so odds once again are that the "connection" to the military terminology is coincidental. Unless the writer or his muse comes out and declares that he got "Jem'Hadar" from Saudi military manuals, of course.

This is like saying if I pull a card out of a deck of 52 cards, it's likely to be a face card, unless I show it to you and it's the three of hearts. Except, (a) the probabilities are mathematical and don't actually change, and (b) I never said I picked a card at random.

And writers rarely pick their words at random.

 

[Timo]

This is like saying if I pull a card out of a deck of 52 cards, it's likely to be a face card, unless I show it to you and it's the three of hearts. Except, (a) the probabilities are mathematical and don't actually change, and (b) I never said I picked a card at random.

But what you are saying is that after I pull a card out of a shuffled deck and it turns out to be a Jack of Clubs, you decide it must be because I knew the black cards are at the bottom and Jacks from this particular pack are slightly more frayed than other cards, and it would be demeaning to claim that I couldn't know that elementary fact.

Yeah, on the surface it looks good that a word used in Star Trek happens to be one letter removed from a word used in a foreign language. But the odds of that happening aren't particularly small. The odds of a Trek word being a real word one letter removed are about 1:1, considering the number of languages out there. I could easily argue the Vendorians were named because vento in my native Finnish is a word that enforces alienness - "ventovieras" is "utterly unknown/foreign/alien").

And the odds of a Trek word matching an alien word in meaning are also about 1:1, because the idea that "Ferengi" has to mean foreigner is pulled out of thin air. It may just as well turn out that "Ferengi" was intended to portray greed, because it resembles the word for the former French currency - or sharp teeth and an appetite for people, because of the obvious connection to "ferocity" and "fang".

Why you seem so utterly stuck to what in closer view is an utterly baseless supposition is truly amazing. "Ferengi = Ferenghi" makes sense, like so many false correlations. But it need not have anything at all to do with reality. Can you not see that?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Geoff Thorne]

Moyani - Or the Tiger - Distant Shores

What about how the aliens refer to themselves (as Mr. Mack pointed out)?

Starfleet might refer to whoever as the whoever-ians but that doesn't mean the Bajorans can't also be the Bajora.

 

[Trent Roman]

It may just as well turn out that "Ferengi" was intended to portray greed, because it resembles the word for the former French currency

That's because, according to wiki, the term likely finds its origins in transliterations of "Frank" (made to stand for all Europeans), which, as you say, also became the basis for the "franc". There are coincidences in etymology. This is not one of them.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

 

[Timo]

Uh, I fail to see the connection. That is, how is the connection between Franks and francs (and their further possible connection with ferenghi) relevant to the existence or nonexistence of the connection between Ferengi and greed?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[captcalhoun]

GR spent time in the mid-East as an airline pilot prior to joining the LAPD and becoming a writer. it's entirely conceivable he knew the Turkish word.

 

[Timo]

Now that's finally getting somewhere. Where one would prefer to end up is an actual statement that "Ferengi" really was meant to convey "foreigner" and was invented by Roddenberry for that purpose. Then the odds that "ferenghi" has something to do with it would go up quite a bit...

Tio Saloniemi

 

[Christopher]

GR spent time in the mid-East as an airline pilot prior to joining the LAPD and becoming a writer. it's entirely conceivable he knew the Turkish word.

Not just the Turkish word, but the related words in Arabic, Persian, Hindi, Urdu, Thai, etc. I was mistaken to single out Turkish as its origin. It's a very widespread term throughout Asia and North Africa, propagated along the trade routes over the centuries. If Roddenberry spent any time in Asia or North Africa, it seems very likely that he would've been called that repeatedly.