"Kronos" and the Greek mythology...

[Kain]

As you may know, Kronos is the name of the Klingon homeplanet.

But, as you may not know, Kronos is also the Greek name of Saturn, both the Titan, father of Jupiter (Zeus in Greek) and the planet.

If I remember correctly, the original names of the Gods of the Greek mythology were Greek (well, DUH!), but when the Romans conquered the (then known) world they assimilated the Greek mythology into their own, which was very similar. So, everywhere except Greece, the Gods of the Greek mythology are known with their Latin names. The same goes for the planets, who took their names from these Gods.

Latin name/Greek name/Greek pronounciation

Mercury/Hermes/Err-MEESS
Venus/Aphrodite/Aafro-THEE-tee (as in "the")
Earth/Gaia/Yee
Mars/Ares/AA-reess
Jupiter/Zeus/THEE-ass (as in "the")
Saturn/Kronos/KRO-noss
Neptune/Poseidon/Possee-THOUGH-nass (as in "though")

Uranus and Pluto's names are the same everywhere, but most Greeks refer to Pluto as Hades, even though Pluto was the God, and Hades the afterlife he ruled in.

I wonder if the person who gave Kronos it's name knew this, or if it's just an interesting coincidence... Either way, I thought it was an interesting thing to know.

 

[Anwar]

That's not all, the name of the destroyed moon was Praxis which can be derived into "Actions that cause change" (with some creative liberty). The destruction of the moon gave leeway to the peace process, an action that caused great change.

 

[Mysterion]

Isn't it actually "Qo'Nos" or somesomch? I think "Kronos" is just a human approximation for the name of the klingon homeworld.

 

[DGCatAniSiri]

Right, the English spelling comes out to 'Qo'nos,' pronounced 'Kronos.'

Still, throw that in with the Praxis connection Anwar came up with and it's an interesting coincidence... When did we first hear it addressed by name? I don't remember them actually using the planet's name (just calling it the Klingon homeward) until around the time TUC and Season Five were in production. It may have been intentional.

 

[The Wormhole]

Isn't it actually "Qo'Nos" or somesomch? I think "Kronos" is just a human approximation for the name of the klingon homeworld.

Subtitles in TUC do spell it Kronos.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Yes, it was Klingonified later.

 

[The Wormhole]

Has the spelling Qo'Nos even been seen on screen? I know it's used all the time in the novels.

 

[Anwar]

It was called "Kling" once in TNG (in the first season, before they wrote TUC). Also, in an old novel it's called Klinzhaa.

 

[captcalhoun]

yeah, but they realised 'Kling' sounded stupid so after that it was just 'the Klingon homeworld'.

 

[Trek_princess]

Uranus is also called "Ouranos." "Hades" does refer to the Greek afterlife region, but it is also the Greek name for the god ruling over that region - "Pluto" is a Latin name.

 

[I am not Spock]

And then of course there's the god of the forge, Hephaestus in the Greek, Vulcan in the Roman.

And the founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus.

Hmmm, could these worlds, and Kronos, have been visited by Apollo from 'Who Mourns For Adonais?' perhaps?

 

[Kain]

And then of course there's the god of the forge, Hephaestus in the Greek, Vulcan in the Roman.

And the founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus.

Hmmm, could these worlds, and Kronos, have been visited by Apollo from 'Who Mourns For Adonais?' perhaps?

Hey, I was going to post EXACTLY that just now!

Romulus and Remus, as I learned yesterday, were sons of Mars/Ares and an Estiad. That they found Rome, which formed a strong empire, and the Romulan planets took their names, Romulans also having a strong empire, is very interesting. This, though, is in Roman mythology, and not in Greek.

Also, yes, Pluto was the Latin name of Hades/Adis/AA-theess (like in "the"), and his world was simply called the Underworld. I was wrong.

Also, Charon was the one transfering the dead to the Underworld, and Pluto's moon is named after him. Now, the Greek name of the Grim Reaper, the personified death bearing a scythe, is Charon. I'm not sure how this came to be.

Uranus is also called "Ouranos.

Basically it's the same name, so I did not think it's a significant difference. The Greek pronounciation is "Oo-rah-NOHSS".

 

[Nerys Myk]

I'm of the happy coincidence school of thought myself. Like Qo'NoS Vulcan, Romulas and Remus just happen to sound similar to words in English. No wandering Gods need apply. Of course in the real world the names were chosen because of the imagery they provide.

 

[Timo]

And perhaps the humans or the Feds did the choosing? Nothing necessitates Kronos being the Klingon name for the place, not in the world of Universal Translators.

OTOH, we got to hear "Romulan" or something very similar to it before UTs got involved, in ENT "Minefield". So the Federation name of the Romulan homeworld might be a close approximation of the native name for that planet, too. Or then what Hoshi heard in "Minefield" was the Romulan word for "The Reich" or "The Hearthworld" somesuch, and a separate Romulan word exists as the proper name for the planet, unbeknown or unacknowledged by the Feds.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Nerys Myk]

I sometimes imagine that Celia Lovsky's pronounciation of "Vulcan" is the way its pronounced in the Vulcan language.

 

[Lonemagpie]

most Greeks refer to Pluto as Hades, even though Pluto was the God, and Hades the afterlife he ruled in..

Pluto was the Roman God of the underworld, Hades the Greek one. All the solar planets (except Earth) are named after Roman gods

 

[Kain]

most Greeks refer to Pluto as Hades, even though Pluto was the God, and Hades the afterlife he ruled in..

Pluto was the Roman God of the underworld, Hades the Greek one. All the solar planets (except Earth) are named after Roman gods

Yes, but the Romans "consumed" the religion of every state they conquered, changing the native religion, as well as their own. Thus, most of the Roman Gods are the same as the Greek ones. For instance, Jupiter became the king of the Roman Pantheon, only after they conquered Greece, and Jupiter became Zeus.

Also, the Ancient Egyptian religion had some entities that were the same as the Greek ones. If I remember correctly, for instance, the Egyptian God Toth was the Greek God Hermes... Also, in some myths, the Egyptian Gods interacted with the Greek ones.

It seems religion at that times was like that everywhere...

 

[Nerys Myk]

Rome ( as I understand it) was fond of finding parallells of their Gods in the pantheons of other cultures. They also were quick to adopt foreign Gods as their own. Not sure if Jupiter's status as king of the Gods is solely the result of Rome's conquest of Greece.

With Thoth and Hermes I thinks its also a case of one culture finding parallells in the pantheon of different culture, rather than being the same God. You also have to remember that after Egypt was conquored by Alexander, it was ruled by the Greek Ptolemy Dynasty for 275 years. ( the famous Cleopatra being among the last)

 

[Kain]

That's right, I completely forgot about that last part. I think, though, that both the Greeks and the Egyptians thought that Toth was Hermes. But I don't know if that was after Alexander...

Still, it was much more mature on their part, finding parallels with each other and agree to these, instead of now that every religion Highlanders itself saying "There could be only one"...

 

[RoJoHen]

And perhaps the humans or the Feds did the choosing? Nothing necessitates Kronos being the Klingon name for the place, not in the world of Universal Translators.

Quite true. It's not like the Chinese actually call their country "China" when speaking their own language. That's just what we call it in English.