The Voynich Ninja

Is the plant in You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. a You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.?

Dracaena (female dragon) is derived from ancient Greek. 

The plant was described by You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., where the red resin obtained from the plant was linked to dragon's blood which could be collected from a place of war between elephants and dragons.

The plant was known for its You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. from ancient times.

The image in You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. could possibly depict an injured dying dragon giving life to the plant with its blood.

This could possibly help in the decipherment of the text in You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. by looking for vords that stand for 'dragon' or 'blood' in the unknown language.

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"CHAP. 38.—CINNABARIS.
I am not surprised that this colour should have been held in such high esteem; for already, in the days of the Trojan War, rubrica was highly valued, as appears from the testimony of Homer, who particularly notices the ships that were coloured with it, whereas, in reference to other colours and paintings, he but rarely notices them. The Greeks call this red earth "miltos," and give to minium the name of "cinnabaris," and hence the error caused by the two meanings of the same word; this being properly the name given to the thick matter which issues from the dragon when crushed beneath the weight of the dying elephant, mixed with the blood of either animal, as already described. Indeed this last is the only colour that in painting gives a proper representation of blood. This cinnabaris, too, is extremely useful as an ingredient in antidotes and various medicaments. But, by Hercules ! our physicians, because minium also has the name of "cinnabaris," use it as a substitute for the other, and so employ a poison, as we shall shortly show it to be."

"CHAP. 39.—THE EMPLOYMENT OF CINNABARIS IN PAINTING.
The ancients used to paint with cinnabaris those pictures of one colour, which are still known among us as " monochromata." They painted also with the minium of Ephesus: but the use of this last has been abandoned, from the vast trouble which the proper keeping of the picture entailed. And then besides, both these colours were thought to be too harsh; the consequence of which is, that painters have now adopted the use of rubrica and of sinopis, substances of which I shall make further mention in the appropriate places.
Cinnabaris is adulterated by the agency of goats' blood, or of bruised sorb-apples. The price of genuine cinnabaris is fifty sesterces per pound."

You can also do a quick search of previous proposals, for example:

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(21-04-2025, 12:38 PM)Ruby Novacna Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.You can also do a quick search of previous proposals, for example:

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Thanks, Ruby. The useful link you kindly provided is about You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. and You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., two different species from the genus Dracaena, which seem to have more narrow leaves than the plant in You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. .

It appears that the earliest recorded reference about the genus Draceana in relation to You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. was given by Dana Scott (Thu, 28 Feb 2002 00:53:48 -0800, You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.).

The attached image shows the number of occurrences of the vords in You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. as symbol combinations in the entire cipher manuscript.

Symbol combinations which occur only in You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. are highlighted in yellow.

A unique symbol is written in the sixth line of text in You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. as shown in the attached image.

For instance, does it resemble the Hebrew letter Lamed?

ל

Blood in Hebrew (דָם) and Arabic (دم) is pronounced as "dam" (or  "dum") but it is unlikely to be the same with the frequently used daiin.

(21-04-2025, 06:05 PM)Dobri Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.A unique symbol is written in the sixth line of text in You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. as shown in the attached image.

I like this one. It looks quite intentional. I don't think it's related to Hebrew though. The strokes look like a combination of the top left of t or p (half loop with the horizontal bar, but no vertical bar) and s.

I don't remember if the writing order of the gallows was established with any certainty. If the gallows are written from the top left, then it could be possible that the scribe started writing a t/p and than decided to correct it to s. There is enough space for a full width t there. The s part looks a bit clumsy.

I've tried finding a t that would fit the shape and position of the stroke, but usually they are taller. This one below is from 23v. Not completely unlikely, but not totally convincing either.

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