The Voynich Ninja

Then it says "spna". Spma? Fpna? Latin spuma is foam.

Something to keep in mind, which may or may not be relevant...

The scribe for this folio tends to leave wide spaces for the sh/ch chars. They are almost disconnected (the connections are extremely light and maybe broken):

[attachment=3916]

It may not be relevant to text that has to tightly fit into a circle with limited space, but it's worth noting how the person did things when there was enough space.

---

(22-01-2020, 10:34 AM)Koen G Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Then it says "spna". Spma? Fpna? Latin spuma is foam.

Yes, thanks for pointing out that it might be abbreviated text. We have to keep that in mind, as well, since it was so common.

I think it's Voynichese and I see no immediate reason for any clear text to appear here. He was writing at an angle. Compare with the last vord in the Moon circle in the preceding folio. The preceding vord is y, with a very short tail - looking awkward for the same reason.

I can easily see the first symbol as k, just with its two legs being too close to each other, effectively merging in one another, and the last three as iin. What's in between it's difficult to say due to the blot (which appeared due to his writing at an inconvenient angle).

I think it is 'cleartext' and I read tuo a spica (Spica, brightest star in constellation Virgo)

(22-01-2020, 11:17 AM)Anton Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I think it's Voynichese and I see no immediate reason for any clear text to appear here. He was writing at an angle. Compare with the last vord in the Moon circle in the preceding folio. The preceding vord is y, with a very short tail - looking awkward for the same reason.

I can easily see the first symbol as k, just with its two legs being too close to each other, effectively merging in one another, and the last three as iin. What's in between it's difficult to say due to the blot (which appeared due to his writing at an inconvenient angle).

It's interesting how differently people can perceive things.

Even though I've created four transcripts and looked at every glyph numerous times and have noticed many variations in the shapes of letters, I cannot see that being a k. Nothing about it looks like k to me.

The back is curved. The loop is too large. The second leg, in my opinion, simply isn't there.

[attachment=3917]

I see long-ess at the beginning (with long-f or loop-ell being other options) and double-story "a" at the end. The others seem like they could be many things but there's nothing in there that looks like Voynichese to me.

Here's what I mean

[attachment=3918]

or

[attachment=3919]

I don't think there are any 1/2-length left-legs on EVA-k anywhere in the VMS, and the loop is never that large.

It just doesn't look like k to me. Not at all. Plus the main leg goes way below the baseline and EVA-k doesn't do that.


If it is Latin characters (and I'm not sure that it is, but it looks like it might be), then I suppose P is a possibility (although they very frequently did not capitalize letters) but it doesn't usually go below the baseline either.

I guess that's why it looks so much like long-ess (or possibly long-eff) to me... because the leg is below the baseline, which was common for long-ess.

I agree with JKP in that the small end doesn't look like a second leg of the "k", but I can still see it as an aborted/distorted "K", which brings me to think few scenarios:

1) A scribal mistake, forgot the leg, no space or hurry or anything
2) Voynichese "rules" permit write K without the second leg, making K potentially a bigram/diphthong/... and making this is a new letter, not needed in the VMS


Or then it is a Latin letter, then the others should be to.

Let's say for a moment that there are two legs that are extremely close together, then it looks more like a Latin abbreviation than a Voynich glyph. For example, the abbreviation for Item resembles k, but often has the right-hand part of the abbreviation going below the baseline to indicate that it is an abbreviation (the tail helps distinguish the abbreviation from a regular letter).

Sometimes the descender for Item is straight, sometimes it swings right or left, but it always means the same thing (and is frequently at the beginnings of lines and paragraphs).

Once again, it's not a normal writing, it's writing along the circumference. Draw a circumference and try to write words along it, not rotating the sheet of paper. You'll then understand what I mean.

---

(22-01-2020, 12:10 PM)-JKP- Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I don't think there are any 1/2-length left-legs on EVA-k anywhere in the VMS

Definitely there are, extended EVA &176; Not to mention the EVA z.