The Voynich Ninja

Hi everyone,

Warning: Poorly researched post ahead! This thread would greatly benefit from the input of someone with proficiency in Serbian or in Balkan history.

This came up originally because of the "armadillo" on f80v, but I was hesitant to post about it. I made a quick note about it on S.Bax's site, but that was even more poorly researched. 
Finally I decided to post this here after reading JuergenW's paper and its discussion, as it might bring an interesting angle, and maybe, just maybe, might point towards an interchangeability of dragons and dogs in certain contexts.

So: Dragons, armadillos, or... armored dogs?

Apparently there is a medieval tradition of armored dogs used in battle.
In Serbia, these dogs were called zmaj, which is also the word for dragon. The dog breeders who trained and kept these military dogs were called zmajari (dragoneers).
My dubious source for this is here, and I don't know what the poster is quoting from: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

Apparently these armored dogs appear elsewhere in Europe too, although I can't find any link to dragons there:
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Look, it's an armadillo. The armadillo discussion has been around before. There's more than one species of armadillo, and the VMs illustration is quite a good match for the pangolin, various species there too. There are certain problems like which is the head end and where is the tail, or are the scales put on backwards?

Just below the creature in question, there are two levels of meandering horizontal lines. And certain speckley marks scattered about. If you look at the pattern made by these lines, and compare it in the gallery of heraldic lines of division, you will see it best fits the example of the nebuly line. 
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The point is simple. Nebuly is from the Latin 'nebulus' or cloud. These lines are used in various illustrations in Quire 13 and it seems reasonable to associate these lines with cloudiness and atmospheric conditions. The lines have been used in this manner in various medieval illustrations. And it therefore seems reasonable to suggest that the creature here is to be found above the atmospheric situation.

My interpretation is that this creature is a rain dragon. Its scales are on backwards to collect the mists and condense them into droplets, which are shown "falling" as rain in the illustration.
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I like the idea of the rain dragon.

As for pangolins... it's a possibility also and considering that most of the bestiaries (and plant-related compendiums that include elephants) include drawings of VERY inaccurate elephants because most temperate zoners had never seen one, we can expect that some of the less commonly known animals, like a pangolin, might be inaccurately drawn as well. Dogs are not uncommon, however. Most medieval illustrators could draw a reasonably recognizable dog.

Another suggestion made in the past, which is rarely remembered, is the 'Catoblepas', a mythical animal that may derive from some species unknown two the person first describing it.
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It is supposed to have scales, and its head downwards.

Not that I'm particularly in favour. I think there are several possibilities here, including a ram, and I doubt one can be certain either way.

(15-02-2016, 10:27 AM)ReneZ Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I think there are several possibilities here, including a ram, and I doubt one can be certain either way.

The Ram interpretation was recently discussed by Darren Worley on Stephen Bax' site.
Darren proposed a parallel with You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., which also includes the nebuly line.

Thanks Marco P, that image is amazing!

Perhaps I should have made this a reply to JuergenW's paper, as my post was mainly aimed at providing a suggestion that in 14/15th C Serbia, the word for armored dog and dragon appears to have been the same, which may explain why the illustrator drew what looks like a dragon in a place where a dog would be expected.
JKP, I fully agree that the illustrator would have been capable of drawing a dog. I just wanted to suggest the possibility that, following the interesting "leashed dog" in JuergenW's posited mandrake iconography, if the artist was familiar with the homonymy of a certain breed of dogs and dragons as zmaj, it may explain why he/she drew one in the place of the other. 

Also it appears that in Serbian epic poetry and folk songs, dragons living on clouds mating with nymphs are often the parents of heroes...
Anyway, regarding both the image on f25 and the beast on 80v, I was originally just hoping that perhaps a reader with knowledge of Serbian/Balkan mythology could tell me more. 
If this post sparks discussion, I hope more images of comparable creatures will be posted, for both of them!

Even if it were Mandragora (I suspect it's not, but I'm completely open to the possibility), the dragony creature still doesn't have to be a dog. One of the traditional names for Mandragora was man-dragon.

[attachment=99]
Here is a hilarious one - the artist creating this woodcut believed it represents chameleon

JKP:

Quote:As for pangolins... it's a possibility also and considering that most of the bestiaries (and plant-related compendiums that include elephants) include drawings of VERY inaccurate elephants because most temperate zoners had never seen one, we can expect that some of the less commonly known animals, like a pangolin, might be inaccurately drawn as well. 

Note that the pangolin became known to Europeans only in about 1600 (see You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.), so it would not be expected in an European 15th century MS. As for elephants: There might be one, as drawn by someone who never saw one, in the root on f55v, as Ellie suggested You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.. 

EllieV: Great find! Maybe drawn by someone who knew the chameleon only from You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.?

(15-02-2016, 08:08 PM)Oocephalus Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.EllieV: Great find! Maybe drawn by someone who knew the chameleon only from You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.?

Or maybe it was meant for Apothecary's skink - the sandfish lizzard that is included in Materia Medica)