The Voynich Ninja

A definition of what you mean exactly by "dominate" in your "wired" (green) lines would be helpful to eliminate possible selection bias. Visually, their placement looks close to random to me.

@ nablator

realy????? okay...


Three words with the same first three letters.
Three words with the same root.
Three words that swap letters around the same root.
Accumulation of duplicates
Lines that use several word types in a row 
...and others

If you remove the uncertain ones (see brackets), the picture would tilt even more towards weird lines = end of page.


<f1v 8> okolshol kol kechy chol kychol cthol chody chol daiin
<f1r 27> ?eo? chol chok choty chotey
<f3r 4> schey chor chal chag cham cho
<f4r 8> shor shol shol cthy cpholdy
<f4r 12> soiin chaiin chain
<f5r 6> sho cheor chey qoeeey qoykeeey qoeor cthy shotshy (okay, this is not so clear, but is weird enough)
<f8r 18> okar cfhaiin chaiin cldaiin chor cha rchealcham
<f13r 3> s y dchor shaiin oeees ykor chor ytshy ykchy kchy dar (the  last y is missing, but ykchy is kchy without y,and ykor goes to the same direction)
<f15v 9> otchol octhol chol chol chody kan
<f16v 9> dshy okaiin okaiin chol chor cthor ty chody (cthor is a great maybe)
<f19r 11> qotchy qolody choldy cthyd (a maybe, not last line)
<f19v 13> yees ykchol oty ytor ytar ytchor ytaiin (nearly every word begins with y, 4 with yt)
<f20r 9> fchodees shody qotchey qokchey qocphy chokoldy (okay in the 3 Word the p is in cc... but ists not at the end of the side..)
<f21r 6> dchor y kol y ky chol kol qokeol chol ol qoteeol dady (i think this is weird, too - but not last line of site)
<f21r 11> shol chol shol tchol chcthy otyky shey yteol shody
<f25r 5> qotcheaiin dchain cthain daiin daiin cthain qotaiin <f25r 6> okal chotaiin
<f25v 6> qokcho r ochy qotchy qotoralcho @147; chain deeaiir s
<f26r 9> tcheoshy dchdy okedy chckhy sdydyykeechy okeedy cheky (this line is weird, but ok. i cant explain)
<f26v 5> deeol cheody qoteedy qokody qotedy qotedy opchedy ofchy chs ar
<f27r 4> qokey chor char chy dchy keeychos cthody (not clear, but not last line)
<f27v 2> dchy chkar otchy shy shy dchy dshy kchy cheo daidy dchy
<f30r 11> qotchor cheor chey cheor chey so[eeb:een]ydeysor daiin
<f31r 10> tol shso okedy okedy qokedy qokeedy dar shedshey
<f31r 11> olsheol qokchy dal chey deey kchy keey okaiiin ykeey
<f33r 4> taiin chekey or al aiiin saiin okaiin dar cheedy chkeey far aiin s
<f33r 6> yteey shody kchedy dy chekar okaiin okaiin daiin okal
<f34v 1> k[e': s]chdy chdy chefchy shdy qopchdy shdydy chdalchdy ypchdy chcthdy spaiin (this weird to (not last line)
<f37v 4> dshor dytory dshor daiin <f37v 5> dchor qotol ykchon dain <f37v 6> yokor ytchor saiin oty
<f38v 6> sho keeey key tey daiin daiiin dain dain
<f40r 9> taiin ol olaiin ordain okaiin okaiin okaiin daram
<f42r 10> choty dol ksheo cthor otol cthol cholshol dain
<f42r 13> qopor shol shot shol shol daiin dain scheam
<f42r 20> shol chol shoky okol sho chol shol chal <f42r 21> shol chol chol shol ctoiin c'os odan
<f42v 3> sho chotody chotol oky chol choldl chcthy otoy
<f43r 3> yty yty oty she ody shy olor yteedy kaiin chky qotydy dar aiin ykam (not last line)
<f43r 12> dor shol qokol shedy qotedy qokeedy qokody okeedy otedy shedy oty yty dy saiin
<f44r 9> otchol ol dchckhy qoky qotchy qokchy qokyd <f44r 10> qokchor okchy qoto ykol choky choky chol dam
<f44v 11> okal chol chol choky okaiin cthy otal
<f47r 6> folr chey so chol shol aiin shol shol chdy cholol
<f49v 40 > oaiin chy daiin chol chaiin kshardychokchy
<f54r 10> tor ol dol or chol chol ckhol okol okyytchor ol koldy
<f55v 5> qokaiin chaiin ykain ykan odydaiin chedy talam
<f56r 1> o@167;chal chchs@168;y oty esedy chy ychocphy chorchy chy (okay, but with the to strange letters - not last line)
<f56r 4> qot chor chor chokor chkor chyokar chdy
<f56v 14> chol cheo kchol chol choky chotor
<f56v 15> otchol chol chol daiin chotaiin
<f57r 3> qokeeody cheooky qokeody sheey okeody cheody cheeody cheekeody <f57r 4> dchos cheocthy cheody qot[ee:ch]ody octhody okeeody chteody cheody s
<f65v 5> dshedy okeody qokdshckhy choky chokeody okey dy
<f66r 5> qokeeody qokeody qokeody qokar sheky qokeeody okedy kodary <f66r 6> ykeeody choekeey okeody chekeody qokeey dyky chctho rotaiin

(22-12-2025, 11:03 PM)JoJo_Jost Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Three words with the same first three letters.
Three words with the same root.
Three words that swap letters around the same root.
Accumulation of duplicates
Lines that use several word types in a row 
...and others

The devil is in the details. You could be noticing these lines and not noticing others that are just as "wired". Do you mean weird?

"i before e, except half the time"  
(we get taught in English class here "i before e, except after c" and it's a lie..!)

For what it is worth, the "across" is weird and more "charm'y"
The "downward" reminds me of a style of writing that you see in Alchemy, and also medicine.. and just about anyone trying to sound "learned" in a "holier-than-thou" way. 
I call it "cat in the hat writing". 

(ends of lines)
Þe man þat wele of lechecraft lere
Rede ouer þis bok and he may here
Many a medicyn boþ good and trewe
to hele sores boþ olde and newe
Heryn arn medicines withoute fable
To hele alle sores þat arn curable
Of swerd knif and of arue
Be þe wounde wyd or narue
Of spere of quarel of dagger of dart
to make him hol in eche part...


It's poem-like but the intent is not incantation/charm/poem/song etc, but being a "smart arse". 
Talking from a position of knowledge unbeknown to the reader, a rather extreme example would be "fairy tales", if we were to look at it sceptically  
I have no idea if the VMS writing is doing this, but I guess it is possible the nature of the almost-repetitiveness downwards is not magical in intention.

(23-12-2025, 12:11 AM)nablator Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.The devil is in the details. You could be noticing these lines and not noticing others that are just as "wired". Do you mean weird?

Yesterday was definitely not my day... yes, surely "weird"... I don't know what was going on in my head. Writing in a foreign language...

I corrected it

But when you compare them to the other lines in the texts, these weird lines are much more noticeable. I just went through the whole herbal section. They stand out clearly from the other lines.  But of course, I will have overlooked a few lines—and a few are questionable. That's why I wanted to use ChatGPT to find them all and leave my own opinion out of it. But that didn't work.

But even if you leave out the questionable ones, the picture remains conspicuous, or rather, it becomes even more conspicuous.

@ Nablator et al.

Fallen into the scientific trap.

I actually spent time trying to structure these weird lines. Three or four letters at the beginning must be the same in at least three consecutive words, with only one letter shift, etc.
Of course, more and more of these weird lines are lost in the process. I noticed that I had a strange feeling about it, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

Then it dawned on me: how can you fit ‘weird’ into a pattern? If you could, it wouldn't be weird anymore. I then looked at a few more incantations. Especially when it comes to Voce Magicae, you can completely forget about structure.

In fact, it's rather the other way around: if I had found a structure, it would have been a counterexample to strange lines.

Sentences such as ‘Vix marix morix fix’ live through sound, not words or letters, and in fact, something like this is more likely to be discovered by a human than a machine – which means:

Interim conclusion
There are no clear rules. Looking for them is nonsense. A different approach is needed here. The idea of a purely reproducible structure was a ‘scientific’ trap.

And certainly, some sentences may be added that may not fit. But it's about the big picture!

Conclusion
And here we can note that these striking sentences often appear at the end of a page. Similar to the Voce Magicae in incantations.

But they also appear in the text, and as you can see from the graphics and the statistical analyses, repetitions with letter shifts are very common, even throughout the entire text. These are simply facts.

And in this respect, the thesis is obvious as a working hypothesis: Let us assume that the texts are more incantations than normal text.

Strong similarities to Voynichese:

"Merseburger Zaubersprüche" Merseburg Incantations’
3. Diplomatic reproduction of the two Old High German text sections in the upper part of

fol. 85

1 Eırıſ ſazun ıdıſı ſɑzun herɑ duoder ſumɑ
2 hɑpñ hepñıdun ſumɑherılezıdun ſumɑ clu
3 bodun umbıcuonıo uuıdı ınſprınc hɑpñ
4 bɑndun ınuɑr uıɡɑndun ·H·
5 Pʰ ol ende uuodɑn uuorun zıholzɑ du uuɑrñ
6 demobɑldereſ uolon ſınuuoz bırenkicſt
7 ñhubıɡuolen ſınhñɡunñ · ſunnɑ erɑſuıſter
8 ñhubıɡuolen frııɑ uollɑ erɑſuıſter ñhu
9 bıɡuolen uuodɑn ſohe uuolɑ condɑ
10 ſoſebenrenkı ſoſebluoñrenkı ſoſelıdı
11 renkı ben zıbenɑ bluoñ zıbluodɑ
12 lıd zıɡelıden ſoſeɡelımıdɑ ſın ·

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This is a wonderful example that fits almost perfectly into the typical patterns of Vyonich.

1. formulaic repetition with minimal variations.
Sequences such as ñhubiguolen ... ñhubiguolen ... biguolen work exactly like some Voynich chains (e.g. qokeey qokydy but also aiin / daiin) Same root structure, small shifts.

2. letter shift instead of genuine new creation.
bluoñ – bluoda, ben – bein – this is not a ‘new word’, but systematic modification. 

But it goes even closer to Voynichese:

5 [...] uuodɑn uuorun zıholzɑ du uuɑrñ
6 demobɑldereſ uolon ſınuuoz bırenkicſt

-> uuodan to uuorun to uuarn to uolon
Letter shift in perfection, exactly what we read in the Voynich manuscript

Example: we relate this line to 114v 31f

uuodɑn uuorun zıholzɑ du uuɑrñ demobɑldereſ uolon
okaiin    otaiin   otal qotar  kaiin  sheey             oaiin

a nearly perfekt match

3.: Alliteration + sound connection instead of syntax.

line 11 / 12  Zibena zibluoda zigeliden
<f19v 13>   ytar     ytchor    ytaiin

This is about sounds that are meant to sound ‘incantatory’, almost litany-like repetitions to give the spell a magical sound.

I think it is a strong indication that VMS could indeed be full of incantations and magic spells.



(just for information, the translation
Once upon a time, Idisen sat here and there.
Some bound chains, others restrained the army,
still others loosened the chains.

Then Phol and Wodan rode into the forest.
Then Balder's foal sprained its foot.

Then Sinthgunt, Sunna's sister, discussed it with him;
then Frija, Volla's sister, discussed it with him;
then Wodan discussed it with him, as he understood it:

Leg to leg,
blood to blood,
limb to limb,
so they should be joined together.

History has a way of repeating itself...
See here: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
for posts to the old mailing list made in March 1997, and search for 'Merseburg'.

Note that I agree that this text has some hints of the quasi-repetitiveness of the Voynich MS, but it is entirely insufficient to explain the textual properties of the MS.

(26-12-2025, 09:18 AM)ReneZ Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Note that I agree that this text has some hints of the quasi-repetitiveness of the Voynich MS, but it is entirely insufficient to explain the textual properties of the MS.

I agree that the Merseburg text alone cannot explain all the textual features of the Voynich Manuscript. It is too short for that.

My argument is more limited: it shows that a genuine, well-documented medieval text genre can quite naturally produce precisely those features that are often considered ‘difficult’ in the Voynich manuscript – dense repetitions, minimal internal variations and sound-oriented sequencing.

In this sense, while it does not explain the Voynich manuscript, it does weaken the argument that such structures are inherently non-linguistic or implausible.

Furthermore, we cannot rule out that parts of the Voynich text stem from a very narrow, formulaic practice. Someone trying to invent and write down spells might simply stay within a small set of familiar patterns, because that is all they know. This would naturally result in strongly repetitive and low-variance text, without requiring any non-linguistic explanation.

Addendum: If one also considers the Bavarian or Upper German context, with its highly reduced, almost monosyllabic spoken language, this would reinforce rather than explain many of these characteristics.