The Voynich Ninja

The smiling/sad expressions of the faces might not be the specific to the plant, but to the artist or perhaps the model being copied. We see similar smiling/sad expressions in the Pisces pair of fish.
However if they are relevant, the smiling/sad expressions bring to mind theater masks.
A rare example of a medieval theater mask from Coventry, 15thC:
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(13-05-2019, 02:20 PM)Koen G Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I guess the owl as a nocturnal bird could be linked to a sleep-inducing herb without the need of a direct linguistic link in the name. The problem is that we don't know yet whether to expect a mnemonic to be linguistic, or rather functional/conceptual. And with these leaves, they could certainly be based on a natural form.

Therefore I think it would be best to focus on the heads, since they are among the most obvious non-botanical elements of all the plants.

To me they don't look sleepy at all, with their wide open eyes. Especially the one on the left looks rather surprised or agitated, with some white of the eye visible above the iris.



The one on the right does look more relaxed. Maybe it's a before and after shot

Here is a sleepy root picture from the 1530's herbal book. You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

For "Ebernwurz" Pritzel gives Artemisia abrotanum and Carlina acaulis, neither of which look like this plant.

"Morsus serpenti" is not very enlightening.

What's written above "Ebernwurz", I cannot discern, except for "alla".

(18-08-2019, 05:45 PM)Anton Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.....
"Morsus serpenti" is not very enlightening.
....

"Morsus serpentis" says at least that the plant helps against snake bites.

According to Hildegard von Bingen, Eberwurz ( Carlina acaulis L. ) works to detoxify the body.
BL, Add MS 41623, Codex Bellunensis, Early 15th century, folio 97v


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OK, the plant looks very different but only the root was used to make the medicine (powder). Maybe we see a "composite plant", likely not but at least possible.

This is going by something Anton said earlier. The two heads are remarkably facing down, right? Like they are watching a point below? I'm not aiming for an exact point here, just illustrating what I mean:

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(13-05-2019, 01:56 PM)Oocephalus Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I would indeed translate Eulsatkraut as "owl seed herb". However, Pritzel says that "the other terms are from the used parts ... 5) oil (El, Eul, Huel, Lyne)". He also lists Oelsaat (oil seed) as a Low German name, although his list appears to mix names for the plant itself, its milky sap, oil, seeds etc. The ö sound is written as eu in Dutch (as in French) and this may also have been used in Low German. So I guess the name originally had nothing to do with owls, although it may have been interpreted that way.

It surly is Ölsaatkraut/oil seed herb and is nothing to do with owls/Eulen, papaver seeds were mostly used for produing oil, , the properties as a drug are a side issue