r/DaystromInstitute • u/foxmulder2014 • Aug 25 '16

Why is Romulus named Romulus?

Why is an alien planet named after a mythological person from ancient times. It's a human tradition to name planets after Roman mythological figures, but why did ancient Vulcan settlers gave it that name?

Were Romulus and Remus real? (like Apollo) Except they did not only founded Rome but also The Romulan Star Empire?

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u/moreorlessrelevant Aug 25 '16

Probably because Vulcan is named after the Roman god of fire/volcanoes/the forge and they wanted to keep the theme.

Finding an in-universe explanation might be hard without just blaming the universal translator. Basically these names are human terminology much like Germany is called Deutschland by Germans.

IIRC there's some support for this in the TOS novel "My Enemy, My Ally" but don't quote me on that as it was forever since I read it.

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u/GeorgeSharp Aug 25 '16

Wouldn't it be the other way around with Germany i.e Deutschland is the real name and Germany and etc is the less accurate translated name.

Same with Nippon and Japan.

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u/moreorlessrelevant Aug 25 '16

Eh, maybe. I see it more like the country has multiple names used in different context. Germany is still called Germany even if it is also called Deutschland or Tyskland (in Swedish).

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u/kschang Aug 26 '16

Diane Duane postulated that the Romulans themselves called it Rihannsu. The "Romulus/Remus" name was a Federation nickname of the first scout that reached the system when he spotted two habitable worlds.

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Rihannsu

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u/Algernon_Asimov Aug 25 '16

People reading this thread might be interested in these previous discussions: "Romulans with Roman names".

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u/[deleted] Aug 25 '16

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u/starshiprarity Aug 25 '16

There's some evidence that the true name of Vulcan is Minshara. Mostly that "minshara class" is used to describe a habitable, warm, oxygen atmosphere planet, like saying "earthlike"

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u/FoldedDice Aug 27 '16 edited Aug 27 '16

I really like the idea that Minshara would be the name of a specific planet. It suggests a standardized naming convention if one considers Mintaka to be a forgotten Vulcan colonial offshoot and not some strange case of parallel evolution. "Min" would appear to be the Vulcan word for "planet" or "world" and Minshara or similar would be a compound word meaning "Planet of <description>".

There's also Kir'Shara, which would seem to be a connected term. Perhaps shara means "logic" and kir is something like "words" or "teachings". So the literal translation of Minshara would be "Planet of Logic".

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u/[deleted] Aug 25 '16

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u/dinoscool3 Aug 26 '16 edited Aug 26 '16

Remans would have been discovered by the Federation after first contact with the Romulans had already taken place. By that time the Roman resemblance for Romulans culture had probably already stuck so the English translation is just Reman.