19-06-2026, 09:09 PM
In this post I am proposing a system that generates Voynichese using a method available in the early 1400s.
The resulting text is meaningless, in the sense that it does not encode a particular language, concept or idea. On the other hand, it is consistent, to some degree, with several features of the text in the VMS. These include local features such as common prefixes, suffixes, combined glyphs (such as bench-gallows), as well as more global feautres like positive word autocorrelation, repeating consecutive words, words that differ by only a few glyphs, and page-wide (or indeed section-wide) topics.
The method of my theory is based on geomancy. Geomancy was a widely used divination technique in the late middle ages, and even much before that. It was not only used in Europe, but in the Arabic world as well. There is a very good explanation on this divination system on the website of Princeton University (You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.).
In a few words (and simplifying a lot) geomancy is a way to gain knowledge about future events by making a number of random points on a sheet of paper (or tossing pebbles, etc…) and then counting the result. If the result is an even number, you translate that to 2 points. If the result is odd, you get 1 point.
You do this 4 times, so that you get a "figure". Here is an example of a figure:
[attachment=16113]
In geomancy, you start the divniation process by constructing 4 figures in such a way, these are called Mothers. Then 4 more, the Daughters. Then 4 more, the Nieces, then 2 Wtinesses, and then 1 Judge.
What is interesting about this is that when you go from one layer to the next (f. ex. from the Mothers to the Nieces), you use information from the Mothers to create the Nieces using a combination. This makes the Nieces a "transformation" of the Mothers and Daughters. In other words, each subsequent layer is dependent on the one above.
The exact way of making these transformations is quite simple and is basically binary arithmetic. Please see the Princeton page for the full details (otherwise I wouldn’t have any space left in this post, sorry).
The final step then consists of assigning a House to each figure. There are 12 houses, but some systems add 4 more so that all 16 combinations of the figures can be "housed".
Each house is a way of telling a particular aspect of the future. For example, the house "Vita" will tell you about life. The house "Carcer" about prison or illegal activites. Here is an example of a House diagram:
[attachment=16114]
In my system of generating Voynichese, I make use of this geomantic process:
Thus, when casting the figures and placing them on the table, we get Voynichese.
Since the different layers of the figures are dependent on the layers above, this creates a "structural" effect in the text whereby it appears that words in each other’s vicinity are related, or connected in some way. Repetitions might also occur.
The rules of each house are chosen in a unique way, which therefore creates the "signature" of the page, or its "topic". Finally, going through the houses in a given order will generate the text. I will give a simple example (and then a more complex one).
Example 1. Simple illustrative example
Let us assume that we have cast our Mothers, which gives (all Voynichese is written in EVA):
Therefore, using the aforementioned combination rule, the 2 Nieces are:
Having the Houses as follows:
Then we would get the text:
daiin qokaiin dkol cho
Remember, whoever is casting the figures, does so randomly. It is, in some sort, in today’s terminology, a "random seed". All other glyphs and words are therefore related to these first seeds, which makes a curious structure emerge in larger texts. I will illustrate this with a more complex example.
Example 2: A more complete example
Now let us assume we have these figures:
Then the Nieces are:
And the Witnesses:
And if we have these Houses:
Thus, the result is (reading in a particular order):
kydainy yepchol dain otchal
[attachment=16112]
Discussion
I will briefly discuss a few points about this method:
I will not make any assumption as to why one would generate such text, nor do I prove anything with this method. I am only showing a possible way to generate Voynichese.
Thank you for reading
The resulting text is meaningless, in the sense that it does not encode a particular language, concept or idea. On the other hand, it is consistent, to some degree, with several features of the text in the VMS. These include local features such as common prefixes, suffixes, combined glyphs (such as bench-gallows), as well as more global feautres like positive word autocorrelation, repeating consecutive words, words that differ by only a few glyphs, and page-wide (or indeed section-wide) topics.
The method of my theory is based on geomancy. Geomancy was a widely used divination technique in the late middle ages, and even much before that. It was not only used in Europe, but in the Arabic world as well. There is a very good explanation on this divination system on the website of Princeton University (You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.).
In a few words (and simplifying a lot) geomancy is a way to gain knowledge about future events by making a number of random points on a sheet of paper (or tossing pebbles, etc…) and then counting the result. If the result is an even number, you translate that to 2 points. If the result is odd, you get 1 point.
You do this 4 times, so that you get a "figure". Here is an example of a figure:
[attachment=16113]
In geomancy, you start the divniation process by constructing 4 figures in such a way, these are called Mothers. Then 4 more, the Daughters. Then 4 more, the Nieces, then 2 Wtinesses, and then 1 Judge.
What is interesting about this is that when you go from one layer to the next (f. ex. from the Mothers to the Nieces), you use information from the Mothers to create the Nieces using a combination. This makes the Nieces a "transformation" of the Mothers and Daughters. In other words, each subsequent layer is dependent on the one above.
The exact way of making these transformations is quite simple and is basically binary arithmetic. Please see the Princeton page for the full details (otherwise I wouldn’t have any space left in this post, sorry).
The final step then consists of assigning a House to each figure. There are 12 houses, but some systems add 4 more so that all 16 combinations of the figures can be "housed".
Each house is a way of telling a particular aspect of the future. For example, the house "Vita" will tell you about life. The house "Carcer" about prison or illegal activites. Here is an example of a House diagram:
[attachment=16114]
In my system of generating Voynichese, I make use of this geomantic process:
- The figures are Voynichese glyphs,
- Each layer of figures is a combination of glyphs above,
- Each house is a prefix- and/or suffix-rule, or a NULL rule.
Thus, when casting the figures and placing them on the table, we get Voynichese.
Since the different layers of the figures are dependent on the layers above, this creates a "structural" effect in the text whereby it appears that words in each other’s vicinity are related, or connected in some way. Repetitions might also occur.
The rules of each house are chosen in a unique way, which therefore creates the "signature" of the page, or its "topic". Finally, going through the houses in a given order will generate the text. I will give a simple example (and then a more complex one).
Example 1. Simple illustrative example
Let us assume that we have cast our Mothers, which gives (all Voynichese is written in EVA):
- Mother 1: d
- Mother 2: k
- Mother 3: c
- Mother 4: h
Therefore, using the aforementioned combination rule, the 2 Nieces are:
- Niece 1: dk
- Niece 2: ch
Having the Houses as follows:
- House 1 (Vita): X + "aiin"
- House 2 (Lucrum): "qo" + X + "aiin"
- House 9 (Itineris): X + "ol"
- House 10 (Regnum): X + "o"
Then we would get the text:
daiin qokaiin dkol cho
Remember, whoever is casting the figures, does so randomly. It is, in some sort, in today’s terminology, a "random seed". All other glyphs and words are therefore related to these first seeds, which makes a curious structure emerge in larger texts. I will illustrate this with a more complex example.
Example 2: A more complete example
Now let us assume we have these figures:
- Mother 1: ain
- Mother 2: d
- Mother 3: y
- Mother 4: k
- Daughter 1: h
- Daughter 2: c
- Daughter 3: p
- Daughter 4: e
Then the Nieces are:
- Niece 1: dain
- Niece 2: ky
- Niece 3: ch
- Niece 4: ep
And the Witnesses:
- Witness 1: kydain
- Witness 2: epch
And if we have these Houses:
- House 9 (Itineris): NULL
- House 11 (Benefacta): ot + X + al
- House 13 (Witness house 1): X + y
- House 14 (Witness house 2): y + X + ol
Thus, the result is (reading in a particular order):
kydainy yepchol dain otchal
[attachment=16112]
Discussion
I will briefly discuss a few points about this method:
- The order in which the houses are read, in traditional geomancy, is sequential (ie, 1, 2, ... ). In this method, no such rule is made. Therefore, a scribe, having cast the figures and placed them into houses, might decide to follow an alternative path, which can be row-by-row, column-by-column, zig-zag, etc. This will make the resulting text none the less structured.
- The fact that all Nieces are combinations of Mothers and Daughters, and that Witnesses are again, combinations of the above, makes the resulting generated text very much inter-dependent. It results in repetitions, small differences in words, and positive word autocorrelation, depending on the path taken through the houses.
- Combining benches and gallows via Mothers/Daughters/Nieces naturally gives rise to complex bench-gallow glyphs.
- Some glyphs or glyph pairs are only used in the houses. This results in words that have a specific prefix or suffix all throughout the text.
- Each page has its own house arrangement, and possibly rules. This gives rise to topics that emerge at each page.
I will not make any assumption as to why one would generate such text, nor do I prove anything with this method. I am only showing a possible way to generate Voynichese.
Thank you for reading
