Forum:Vulcan script translation

Do we know how to read Vulcan script? If we need a Rosetta Stone, I find it likely that the script on Spock's funeral robe translates to Spock's Vulcan name which is unpronounceable to humans who don't have years and years of practise.

Come to think of it, since Spock was the only Vulcan on the Enterprise, do Vulcans always carry with them their funeral robe during long journeys?

Or maybe Spock knew he was going to die long before we saw Spock in contemplation in the scene in the bridge. If I'm thinking this through correctly, this means that Spock foresaw his death before the Enterprise left for Ceti Alpha V! Captain Canuck talk 03:32, August 20, 2010 (UTC)


 * A few pedantic points: first, the Enterprise never headed for Ceti Alpha V in . The Reliant was there.  The Enterprise went from Earth to the Regula I station to the Mutara Nebula.  And second, do we know that the robe in the coffin is specifically and exclusively for funerals?  Even if it's called a "funeral robe" in  (which I don't recall), that could just mean "the robe Spock was buried in" (as you might call the suit you put on someone's body for their burial a "funeral suit").


 * Putting aside the question of the robe's provenance, I don't think we can assume that the writing is Spock's name. If the robe is designed for funerals, it could just as easily be a meditation on death by Surak or some other Vulcan master — perhaps the Vulcan equivalent of "ashes to ashes, dust to dust".  And if it's not specifically for funerals, the text could say anything. —Josiah Rowe 03:50, August 20, 2010 (UTC)

You are right, its a burial robe. To confirm, 30 minutes into the movie, Sarek's exact words: "It's Spock's burial robe." Captain Canuck talk 04:02, August 20, 2010 (UTC)


 * I thought Saavik said that.--31dot 08:46, August 20, 2010 (UTC)


 * That would make more sense — I was scouring my brain to think why Sarek would have mentioned the robe in his visit to Kirk's apartment.


 * So we don't know whether "burial robe" means a robe to be used only for burials or any robe in which one is buried. I'm leaning towards the latter.  The robe isn't that different from the one Spock wears in the scene in his quarters with Valeris in .  It seems more likely to me that whoever prepared Spock's body for burial dressed him in a formal Vulcan robe from Spock's quarters than that the Enterprise had a specific Vulcan funerary garment on board (or the facilities to make one quickly).


 * As for what it says, maybe to Vulcans writing on robes is like writing on T-shirts to us. It could be a favorite logical aphorism or quotation from Surak, or anything else.  If we assumed that writing on clothes is most likely to represent the wearer's name, then we'd conclude that there are an awful lot of Americans named Abercrombie.


 * But speaking of Surak, if you're looking for a "Vulcan Rosetta stone", do we know that the writing on Surak's katric ark is his name? The caption at Surak says that it is... —Josiah Rowe 13:13, August 20, 2010 (UTC)