Names Of Planets

The Rebel Worlds, III.

A planet can be named by its inhabitants or by its discoverers who may or may not be human. In the Terran Empire:

Shalmu was named by the Shalmuans;

 

Llyanthawr was named by its Cynthian discoverers, then bought by the Empire;

the star, Virgil, and its planets, Aeaneas and Dido, were named by their human discoverers;

 

Ifri?

"The habitable planet of the third sun was Shalmu.

"So it was called in one of the languages spoken by its most technologically advanced civilization." (p. 23)

Precisely. There is not just one name. There are different planetary civilizations, each with more than one language.

The Commonwealth and the Empire continue the tradition of naming stars and planets after Terrestrial mythological figures. There are other examples in the Technic History.

In CS Lewis's Out Of The Silent Planet, Weston and Devine kidnap Ransom and take him to "Malacandra," which Weston says is a planet's true name, learned from its inhabitants, but do even a planet's inhabitants have one true name for it? Conditions in the Solar System turn out to be not scientific or Darwinian but theological with a Platonic language originating on Mercury.

In Doctor Who, when the Doctor was told that he was to be transported to a planet identified only by a number, he replied that he was old-fashioned enough to prefer names and was then told that this planet was named "Skaro." He and we recognize the home planet of Daleks and Thals. But the answer should have been something like: "The planet - in the principle language of its dominant species through most of its history - was named 'Skaro.'"

After these interesting excursions to the Ransom Trilogy and to Doctor Who, we will return to the Flandry period of the Technic History.