After much contemplation and research I have stumbled on a strange fact in Star Trek which only adds more to the many problems in its creation. Starting with the fact that how the entire universe, or almost, is made up of humanoids. I believe more in Star Wars or Larry Niven's worlds where a small minority actually looks humanoid. This is only furthered by the universal translator on the Star Ships that zip around the galaxy. When we meet certain races such as the Bajorans or the Vulcans we find out their home world is Bajor or Vulcan respectively. Consider other races: Cardassians are from Cardassia, Romulans are from Romulus, and Ferengi hail from Ferenginar. This just describes a few of the main races that have played a role in Star Trek. The only race that does not match this scheme however is the humans. Imagine that. Their home world is Earth! Yet, NO other race calls them Earthlings. Its always "Blah Blah Blahbidy Blah HUMAN!" It may be said: "Well this is the universal translators problem." I would say not because when translating Ferengi it becomes apparent it is only a derivative of Ferenginar. Hence the two words would sound similar.. Sigh, yet one more problem with Star Trek.

Think about it. Vulcans, Romulans, the Klingon home world Kronos are all named after Earth's* Greek myths. Other names of races that are clearly of English origin include Bynars, The Founders, and The Dominion.

The answer to this weirdness? They speak English in Star Trek. The universal translates the Vulcan term for Vulcans and the planet Vulcan to the English term for Vulcans and the planet Vulcan just as you'd expect it to translate Deutschland to Germany.

This still leaves one problem: the Klingon pronunciation (in the Klingon language, that is) for Qo'noS (also spelt "Kronos") is the same as the English word Kronos. That is one oddity.

Another thing to consider, in the case of the Romulans there are two home worlds: Remus and Romulus. The planet name Romulus and the race name Romulan are both derived from the name of their original leader, Admiral Romulus. (Remember, the Romulans split off from the Vulcan Race around 300ad.)

While I'm rambling, most of the non-major races aren't named after their home worlds. In TOS they'd name the planet and then discover a(n English speaking) race living on the planet and the UFP would keep the same name for the planet and use the race's own name for the new race.

Oh, yeah. And the Borg speak Latin.

*Unless you consider Who Mourns for Adonis? (TOS) to make them not Earth-based.

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