Hello everyone, the Voynich manuscript is a very interesting work and, as I can see on the forum, it intrigues many people to explore different areas of knowledge.
As somebody who's gotten into analysing it fairly recently compared to a lot of people, I used my simple logic to try to find data that matches the information in VM. I know that the similarities I've noticed could just be coincidental, but hopefully what I say can give some a different approach.
In my humble opinion, the manuscript has some connections with the Canary islands. I think that it was written by someone who wanted to note down the unusual plants (as islands do have them since they are isolated), the religion of the Guanches people, their myths, and the use of real life celestial bodies as a seasonal calendar (relating to meteor showers).
And I think that it could possibly explain the rare alphabet used, especially considering the history of the languages present in the area in the past.
I've been looking into this for a while now, there are a few more interesting connections I haven't mentioned, but I want to hear if maybe this was already debunked in the past.
A couple of interesting fellows, with surprising connections > Duke of Berry > BNF Fr. 565 > cosmic illustration?
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Hi all,
The similarity to BNF Fr. 565 and through it, the potential connection to the Canary Islands is interesting because of Silbo Gomero You are not allowed to view links.
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It's an extant whistling language that encodes Spanish likely using a system derived by that used by the Indigenous people of the Canary Islands. Because it uses whistles it has some unusual properties for an audible language.
And if as seems likely a similar system encoded a language that developed alongside that system, that language, when written, might have some unusual properties of its own.
I have the same idea about Silbo Gomero. Maybe symbols in the manuscript are used to show pitch, length and consistency of whistle words.
Another thing I have found that can be interesting to explore is the use of high and low tides for fishing by Guanches people, and weather phenomena called "horizontal rain ".
Are we whistling in Spanish or in the native Guanche, the indigenous language? The description is interesting with Berber connections and a large unidentified vocabulary.
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Could be both or even Portuguese
The thing I find most interesting is that Gadifer de la Salle was a real connection between the Guanche people and their language with the Duke of Berry and the Oresme manuscript as it compares with the VMs cosmic illustration. Gadifer's biography is focused on the conquest of the Canary Islands, and after that the rest is omitted. He might have learned the Guanche language, to some degree. It can't be too complex if it can be communicated by whistling. At least the article implies such. And if Spanish can be whistled also, the same must apply.
Then Gadifer worked for the Duke of Berry, who died in Paris in 1416. And Gadifer died either 1422 or 1425. In his final years, with his knowledge of the Guanche language, he could have created his own phonetic system and written the VMs. HYPOTHETICALLY!
But within the possible realms of space and time.
It also seems, ironically, perhaps, that with an idiosyncratic transcription system and an unknown, extinct language, that a correct solution could not be recognized if it were discovered.
You're right that it would be really hard to prove this, let alone reconstruct much meaning. I do think it might be possible to quantify the number of degrees of freedom in Silbo Gomero today and see if it too could be written in voynich with the amount of rigid structure it has. Also potentially the velum-dna database that I saw mentioned in the past, to identify where the calves came from. Is it known where Gadifer spent the last years of his life?
I also find it notable that the closest match (in terms of entropy) to a language that survives for comparison is ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian) which is anachronistic to the carbon dating. But a moment of colonial contact between europeans and an Indigenous island people was happening right around the carbon dating and much more nearby, explaining the obvious European influences in the VMS.
Edit: Having seen Koen's video, I wonder if the current writing system of Silbo Gomero looks about right entropy wise for a similar writing system, I worry that with six letters it might be a little too small.
There is more information on Gadifer de la Salle in Google Books. - - Too much for now.
Apparently, he came from a literary family, fought for the Teutonic Knights (which gives "eastern" connections), and survived Nicopolis (along with John the Fearless of Burgundy)- all before the Canary Islands' expedition. He was back in Paris afterward, involved on the Armagnac side.
The key to the VMs cosmic illustration is the structure of the cosmic diagram. The BNF Fr. 565 manuscript is dated c. 1410 and was property of the Duke of Berry (d. 1416) and then his daughter Marie.
It seems rather unlikely that Gadifer would have crossed paths with the BNF manuscript, though they may have been in Paris at the same time.
Hello again everyone, thanks for responding to my thread.
I guess some people will argue about this idea i have, cos it's not consistent with the time when VM was parchment made.
I will share it here anyway
I noticed that many of the plants in the manuscript are primitive plants (a lot have spore capsules), and for example moss is pretty small plant to examine. The creator of VM would have to use some kind of magnifying glass. So, the drawings of objects (that people assume are apothecary cups) could maybe be early versions of microscopes. Any thoughts?