The Voynich Ninja

Good examples, Marco, I'll comment more on them when I can find time.

Wyrms was a general-purpose word with a lot of meanings. Sometimes medieval people used "worms/wyrms" in the same way we use the word "germs"—to mean those "invisible" things that make people sick. Of course, they didn't know about germs yet, so they generally associated worms (the invisible make-you-sick kind) with demons or omens or "bad air".

Just a thought:
While I think the possibilities raised so far in this thread regarding traditional depictions of snakebite cures are plausible and interesting, I wonder if the presence of a dragon near the end of a leaf could refer to something else about the name of this plant.
The leaves are lanceolate in shape, and it made me wonder if this could relate to a pun about Lancelot and the Dragon, or some other similar tradition such as St Michael or St George killing the dragon with a lance, but I haven't checked medieval plant names associated with those. 
Are there any possible matches to trees or plants associated with the stories or names of Lancelot, George, or Michael or some other famous dragon slayer?

A humorous student added genitals and an image of his dog to a XV Century Flemish ms about surgery. St. John's College, Cambridge, You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.. Maybe it's not impossible that the critter in You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. is an extremely poorly drawn dog, but the scales would remain unexplained. The much more usual "herbal dragon" remains the best option, in my opinion.

PS: I understand that the inscription "Dat is myn hant" means this is my hand (not this is my hound) and refers to the severed arm that was added in the same hand as the animal. Possibly this is an unidentifiable, unhelpful, animal.

LOL!!!!! I wouldn't mind if that were a dog, but if it were a cat, watch out!!


Marco, I don't know if you know this, but that style of drawing the mouth is NOT common (I have looked... and looked). In that sense it's a very significant image.

Just to the collection. Ellie Velinska compared:

Two other copies:
Das buch der heiligen Dreifaltigkeit (1416-1419)

The second third of 15 c. Buch der Heiligen Dreifaltigkeit (Wolfenbüttel, Herzog August Bibliothek, Cod. Guelf. 433 Helmst)You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

Amusing copying!

I'd like to add another reference for dragons. It draws weight on the idea that they simply mean that sap is the ingredient to be taken from the plant, and is not an indication of the name of the plant, or of a particular plant.

The reference is You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., a 1487 italian herbal on paper very recently digitized at Museum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris.

If you look at folio 32r you will see two dragons, and it is clear from the text that they refer to suco (sap), one from the leaves, the other from the roots. The plant itself is gengiana (italian for gentian). So the name has nothing to do with drago.

And if you look at folio 50r there are also two dragons pointing/eating the leaves, and the plant there is carlina (and looks markedly different from the depicted gengiana).

Since dragons appear twice on different-looking plants that have different-sounding italian names, the dragons cannot refer to a particular plant or a name related to drago, but only on something in common to both folios. The sap idea being written explictely on folio 32r, it is very probably the correct one.

Now, making the assumption that this is the meaning of the dragon in the VM too, it implies that the VM author knew of that peculiar medicinal convention. It would thus be interesting to trace it carefully, both geographically and chronologically. That would help narrow down the probable background/location of the VM author. 

It should also be noted that Ms 326 has several interesting similarities to the VM : a brown snake near the root on its folio 13r is reminiscent of the VM f43v, and heads in roots on folio 33r are akin to VM f33r. Several differences exist too obviously, for instance there are heads on other folios too, and also two full humans on folio 42v and folio 43r.

I was thinking, as I glanced through these, that it's an nice break to see plants that are instantly recognizable without looking at the labels. There were only a few I wasn't sure of.

Then, at page 44, I suddenly realized why they were so easy to recognize. Many of them are not drawn (except for mythical plants like lunaria and a few others that might be too big to fit on a page), the plants are inked and then "pressed" into the page to make an impression of the plant (like a monoprint) and then, in some cases, overpainted. That also explains why the roots are so rough compared to the way the rest of the plant is drawn. They are sketched in after, rather than pressed from the real root.


Very interesting observation about the serpents/dragons. I've seen them used to represent many different things but I wasn't aware of an association with sap.

If the little VMS critter is intended as a "sap dragon" then the plant is more likely to be Dracaena than Plantago. Plantago has negligible sap (other parts of the plant are used), whereas Dracaena is known for the sap that drips off the plant. The Yemeni Dracaena is especially noted for its sap, which is bright red.

Good observation, Thomas. But why would Dragons be associated with sap?

What if down in the obscure origins of herbal illustrations, Dracaena was associated with dragons because of its name, and this was later expanded to all plants valued for their sap?

I guess it doesn't really matter. Whichever way you look at it, the dragon adds weight to the Dracaena idea, especially the species used to extract dragon's blood. If Diane is right about this plant, this means the Soqotra species.

I beg to differ, your "what if..." is only an interpretation, while the manuscript I have mentionned factually implies that by 1487 in Italy a dragon could mean suco without any link to those plants that have red sap.

In particular, the leaves of You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. are certainly too large and not long enough to represent a young Dracaena plant, as photos on the web reveal. For example You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. and is clearly seen to have a large trunk and long thin leaves, not by any means like on the VM. This is true for You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. of that plant.

Dracaena plants are quite variable. Some are very tree-like, some of them resemble house plants, with modest stems and leaves. Some have leaves that are soft and droopy, others have very thick stiff leaves.

The differences are not just dependent on species, they are also dependent on climate. The same plant grown in a different climate can sometimes look like a different species (this is also true of many alpine plants).


I think the VMS plant looks more like Plantago than Dracaena (or a few other plants I've mentioned previously), but it could look like some varieties of Dracaena, and if there is an association between dragons and sap and this were intended as a sap-dragon, then Plantago wouldn't fit very well.