Ship's Name

NachoFleischman

MemberOvomorphDecember 31, 20111919 Views7 Replies

Hello everybody. I have just some in mind reading another thread (the one of the sand storm). It's about of the ship's name. We all have focused on PROMETHEUS and all the stuff concerning the Greek Myth, but... what about MAGELLAN? Fernando de Magallanes was a portuguese discoverer who was the first european traveller who traveled from Atlantic to Pacific Ocean. He died in the travel, but his second official, spanish Juan Sebastián de Elcano, was able to made the first circumnavigation of the Earth. I don't know if this has been already discused in this forum, so... any ideas or possible connections to the movie?

NachoFleischman
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December 31, 2011

If you want more information, here is a Wikipedia's link to that subject: [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Magellan]Ferdinand Magellan[/url]

Frantz
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December 31, 2011

Well i dont see too many deep meaning ..he was a great traveller ...they could have named it Columbus or De Gama or Cook , i think they didnt build the ship for the expedition so they got they better suited for the job The most ridicolous name for a spaceship was ICARUS for Sunshine ... i mean ...he died to get to close to the sun ..pretty stupid to name in that way a ship that have to ..get close to the sun !!!

NachoFleischman
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December 31, 2011

I see your point @Frantz, but I wasn't going to the practical meaning (the name the constructors who manufactured the ship in the movie give to it) but in a metaphorical meaning, just the same that Prometheus. Following your thinking, in the time when the ship was manufactured in the movie, the constructors neither do know that the expedition would steal some great power from an alien race (following some of the speculation hre in the forums), so the name Prometheus hasn't any meaning then. See where am I pointing to? I don't know, maybe is just a nautical name, just the same as Nostromo.

SubterraneanHomesick
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December 31, 2011

Since I am portuguese, allow me to be picky and point out that his name was Fernão de Magalhães. Magallanes is the spanish approach to the name as much as Magellan is the english one. In fact, having had his name translated across the years is hardly a surprise for me, as I was never able to teach any foreigner to pronounce Magalhães correctly - this weird language of ours eheh... Magalhães's journey also represented a formidable trip into the unknown, in particular of the huge south pacific region. I agree that we shouldn't read too much more from the ship's name than that.

NachoFleischman
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December 31, 2011

You got me @Baldas: I'm spanish. Sorry about "Magallanes", but you are absolutely right and I agree at your point about the trip into the unknown

Frantz
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December 31, 2011

like Cristopher Columbus is Cristoforo Colombo in italian ( and so the right name ) ..,,, every country destroy the language of the others :p

SubterraneanHomesick
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December 31, 2011

eheh no need for apologies, Nacho. And for the record I do believe that Elcano should get much more credit on the success of the circumnavigation than he usually does!

Ship's Name

NachoFleischman

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