Vulcans are from Earth

[THE_FETT]

Thinking about Klingons from ... their homeworld, I started thinking about something else. Okay, so, we call our planet Earth because it started out we didn't know about a planet floating in space and were just talking about the earth we walked on and from which stuff grows and all that. So when we get to the knowledge about a whole planet we live on, the name "Earth" just naturally is used as the name of what we've been walking on all this time.

Okay, so wouldn't you think that pretty much every alien in the galaxy would call their homeworld "Earth" since they've went through the same process of gaining knowledge while retaining the origin labels? I mean, before Vulcans knew about planets they'd be talking about the "earth" that stuff grows out of and that they walk on and all that, just like we did. So, a Vulcan gardener wouldn't say something like, "Well, I guess I'll go dig up some Vulcan."

So it seems to me that it'd be like, meeting first aliens would go like, "Hey, what planet you from?" "Us? We're from Earth." "Oh, wow. We're from Earth, too." "Cool. What's your star?" "The Sun." "Oh yeah, we go around the Sun, too."

Then after that we'd meet more aliens and it'd be, "Let me guess. You're from Earth?" "Whoa. You guys are psychic."

Or maybe "Vulcan" is the Vulcan would for "earth" and so on and so forth? These are the things I think about. The important questions of life.

 

[greenmystik]

I think you're right about the last part; it could be that Vulcan translates to Earth.

Or it could be that not everyone in the galaxy thinks like humans do.

 

[Timo]

That's something the translators would have to acknowledge. It would be extremely confusing to translate the "proper names" of the homeworlds, as most could indeed translate as "Dirt" - but it would be very practical to leave those names untranslated.

That's what we humans often do, too. Say, we speak of the Inuit because that immediately tells us which "People" we are talking about.

Doesn't necessarily mean Vulcan would be the word Vulcans use for their homeworld. "Vulcan" could be an utterly unrelated word the humans have adopted for reasons of convenience, just like the English speakers have decided to call Deutschland "Germany", or like people outside the United States of America may call that nation "America" for short, or "Yanqui" for shorter.

Similarly, no Bajoran probably thinks of him- or herself as "Bajoran" (rather, they would know themselves as the People, or perhaps the Propheteers), but that's how English-speaking humans call them anyway.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[johnboy3434]

Similarly, no Bajoran probably thinks of him- or herself as "Bajoran" (rather, they would know themselves as the People, or perhaps the Propheteers), but that's how English-speaking humans call them anyway.

The Power is YOURS!

 

[Basill]

It would be interesting to know how many times sci-fi has used the term "earthquake" on an alien planet. I'm pretty sure Trek did it a few times, but I bet in the later years they shifted to "seismic event" or some such to avoid the gaff.

 

[Bill Morris]

In DS9: Let He Who Is Without Sin . . . they called a seismic event on Risa an "earthquake," but in VOY: Blink of an Eye it was "ground shaking."

 

[USS Excelsior]

Not unless the word "Vulcan" is the planet's designated name like "Terra" for Earth, and Sol for the sun.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Vulcan is a Roman god. It makes sense that humans saw the planet thru a telescope long before anyone had any idea it was inhabited and gave it that name. Since Vulcan names are supposedly difficult for humans to pronounce, whatever the real name is never became common among humans and they stuck with Vulcan.

That's perfectly normal. Austrians call their capital Wein, not Vienna.

Something similar probably explains how Romulus and Remus ended up named for other figures from Roman mythology.

 

[FordSVT]

Thinking about Klingons from ... their homeworld, I started thinking about something else. Okay, so, we call our planet Earth because it started out we didn't know about a planet floating in space and were just talking about the earth we walked on and from which stuff grows and all that. So when we get to the knowledge about a whole planet we live on, the name "Earth" just naturally is used as the name of what we've been walking on all this time.

Okay, so wouldn't you think that pretty much every alien in the galaxy would call their homeworld "Earth" since they've went through the same process of gaining knowledge while retaining the origin labels? I mean, before Vulcans knew about planets they'd be talking about the "earth" that stuff grows out of and that they walk on and all that, just like we did. So, a Vulcan gardener wouldn't say something like, "Well, I guess I'll go dig up some Vulcan."

Or "Vulcan" was the name of an ancient god that embodied the world they lived in and called it that. I think it's a pretty big assumption for you to make that all or even most alien species would call their planets by the word some of them use for the ground or the land.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Vulcan is a Roman god. It makes sense that humans saw the planet thru a telescope long before anyone had any idea it was inhabited and gave it that name. Since Vulcan names are supposedly difficult for humans to pronounce, whatever the real name is never became common among humans and they stuck with Vulcan.

That's perfectly normal. Austrians call their capital Wein, not Vienna.

Something similar probably explains how Romulus and Remus ended up named for other figures from Roman mythology.

Do you think Wein and Vienna lack a connection linguistically?

 

[THE_FETT]

That's something the translators would have to acknowledge. It would be extremely confusing to translate the "proper names" of the homeworlds, as most could indeed translate as "Dirt" - but it would be very practical to leave those names untranslated.

That's what we humans often do, too. Say, we speak of the Inuit because that immediately tells us which "People" we are talking about.

Doesn't necessarily mean Vulcan would be the word Vulcans use for their homeworld. "Vulcan" could be an utterly unrelated word the humans have adopted for reasons of convenience, just like the English speakers have decided to call Deutschland "Germany", or like people outside the United States of America may call that nation "America" for short, or "Yanqui" for shorter.

Similarly, no Bajoran probably thinks of him- or herself as "Bajoran" (rather, they would know themselves as the People, or perhaps the Propheteers), but that's how English-speaking humans call them anyway.

Timo Saloniemi

Yeah but every time you see an alien in Trek they always refer to their planet by the same name that humans refer to it as. Just to be clear, I'm not saying that's some kind of error or anything, because that's the way sci-fi is, and I agree it would be lame to have everyone calling their homeworld Earth in a sci-fi series.

But, then again, it would be kind of cool to refer to various planetary homeworlds as, like, Solar Earth, Antarean Earth, Polarian Earth and such. That's actually kind of cool now that I think about it.

Not unless the word "Vulcan" is the planet's designated name like "Terra" for Earth, and Sol for the sun.

Yeah but Terra and Sol are just the Latin for "earth" and "sun", so that's pretty much still what I meant.

Vulcan is a Roman god. It makes sense that humans saw the planet thru a telescope long before anyone had any idea it was inhabited and gave it that name. Since Vulcan names are supposedly difficult for humans to pronounce, whatever the real name is never became common among humans and they stuck with Vulcan.

That's perfectly normal. Austrians call their capital Wein, not Vienna.

Something similar probably explains how Romulus and Remus ended up named for other figures from Roman mythology.

I don't know about all that. I wouldn't think we'd be naming every planet we saw through a telescope with some proper name. Maybe a designation like P3-43a or something. Anyway I would wonder if humans could see planets that far away with a telescope even in the Trek era.

Or "Vulcan" was the name of an ancient god that embodied the world they lived in and called it that. I think it's a pretty big assumption for you to make that all or even most alien species would call their planets by the word some of them use for the ground or the land.

I don't know about that, it's backwards. I don't doubt that aliens would have regarded the "earth" and embodied it with a desitic personifaction, but they'd still just be calling it "earth" in their tongue. Like, the Greeks personified the earth with their word which meant earth: Gaea. I can see aliens doing this, but to name the deity first, and then apply the name to the earth seems backwards. I should think they would start out calling the ground "earth" (or, whatever word translates into "earth" in their tongue) and then perhaps some would wax spiritual and personify, even deify "earth" but the deific personification would naturally be called "earth."

 

[Timo]

Yeah but every time you see an alien in Trek they always refer to their planet by the same name that humans refer to it as.

Of course, every time you see an alien, they always speak the same language that humans speak.

Spock might try saying he comes from Skrooach'n till the cows come home, but the Universal Translator would still make it sound as if he comes from Vulcan.

Like, the Greeks personified the earth with their word which meant earth: Gaea.

Actually, that's a good example of the opposite of what you suggest. After all, "gaea" is not "dirt" etymologically, it's more like "mother" or "ancestor".

It's just that the word has come to mean "mother Earth", hence the use of "geo-" in modern words referring to the Earth or the earth.

Many an alien culture might decide to refer to their world in terms we would consider "poetic": Mother, Bosom, Home, Heart, Hearth, Fire... Forge. Vulcan?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Danoz]

Or it could be that not everyone in the galaxy thinks like humans do.

BLASPHEMY!!!

 

[THE_FETT]

Of course, every time you see an alien, they always speak the same language that humans speak.

Spock might try saying he comes from Skrooach'n till the cows come home, but the Universal Translator would still make it sound as if he comes from Vulcan.

The question is, why's it coming out "Vulcan" every time, and not "Earth"?

Actually, that's a good example of the opposite of what you suggest. After all, "gaea" is not "dirt" etymologically, it's more like "mother" or "ancestor".

No, gaea is the Greek word for "earth." You're probably familiar with the term "Pangaea" which means "all earth."

It's just that the word has come to mean "mother Earth", hence the use of "geo-" in modern words referring to the Earth or the earth.

No, that's totally wrong. The use of "geo" is because it means "earth" to begin with.

Many an alien culture might decide to refer to their world in terms we would consider "poetic": Mother, Bosom, Home, Heart, Hearth, Fire... Forge. Vulcan?

Not saying they couldn't do that, but just saying that I don't see what would lead to that idea. The very first thing anyone is going to do is call the ground they walk on "earth."

 

[greenmystik]

Or it could be that not everyone in the galaxy thinks like humans do.

BLASPHEMY!!!

Why thank you!

 

[Agent Richard07]

Shane Johnson wrote a book called Worlds of the Federation which is a guide to most of the planets in the Star Trek universe circa 1989 when the book was published. It's not canon, but it's a fun read with a lot of imagination put into it. The guide includes each planet's Federation name as well as its indigenous name. Here are a few good ones...

Earth: Earth
Vulcan: T'Khasi
Tellar: Miracht
Andor: Fesoan
Sauria: Lyaksti'kon
Betazed: Cyndriel
Bynaus: 101100010100110
Benzar: Pheradon

 

[Sci]

Similarly, no Bajoran probably thinks of him- or herself as "Bajoran" (rather, they would know themselves as the People, or perhaps the Propheteers), but that's how English-speaking humans call them anyway.

For whatever it's worth, the DS9 Relaunch novels establish that the ancient Bajorans were divided amongst numerous different nations, including one that worshipped beings they called the Prophets that was called the Bajora. The Bajora fought numerous wars against the other nations, such as Endtree, and eventually conquered and assimilated them into their faith system -- hence the modern term "Bajor" as the name of their world and "Bajoran" as the denonym.

 

[137th Gebirg]

This is a truly excellent thread - something I had never thought of before.

Speaking of mythological figures, what exactly are the odds that Romulans and Remans and their respective home worlds would be identically named after the two ancient Earth pre-Roman brothers?

And don't forget, in TOS first season, Spock called his people "Vulcanians". In all the years I've watched Trek, I can honestly say I never noticed that until I got the new DVD's a couple of years back.

"Vulcanians"...makes me cringe, actually.

 

[Lynx]

An interesting question. I've also wondered why Earth is referred to as Earth instead of Terra or Tellus when the other planets are referred to as Vulcan, Cardassia and so on. Can it be the translator?

Another thing which always strike me is when people on a certain planet refer to their planet as Acamar III (TNG, "The Vengeance Factor") or Drayan II (Voyager, "Innocence"). OK if it is a Federation colony, assuming that naming planets after their sun and the order of the planets counted from the sun. But why should alien species like the Acamarians or Drayans have a number after the name of the planet? The translator again?

 

[Sci]

An interesting question. I've also wondered why Earth is referred to as Earth instead of Terra or Tellus when the other planets are referred to as Vulcan, Cardassia and so on.

Because Star Trek is an English-language program and "Earth" is the English word for our planet?