The Voynich Ninja

(21-11-2016, 09:17 PM)Koen Gh. Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Hey Linda, nice to see you on the forum again. You know, that's actually a great suggestion - wonder why I didn't think of it myself 
The question remains why the green thing is represented with a serrated edge... but the resemblance between the white thing and the nut's shell is dead on.

Thanks! On wiki it said that other species of Pistacia have soft shells, I wonder if that is why they might have thought the interior to be a rolled up leaf? The historical element is certainly in place with it having been recorded by Pliny the Elder as being "well known among us", and English language use of the name around year 1400. But no serrated leaves. Perhaps it is what they thought might come if it had been left to grow longer, a belief that the pistachio was a rolled up leaf that didn't develop, rather than a seed or nut?

Koen,


My Cipher retrieved You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view..

Quote:In the present study, the characterization of the soybean retrotransposon, Diaspora, provides evidence for a relatively rapid transition between enveloped retroelements and non-enveloped retrotransposons. Our phylogenetic analysis suggests that the Diaspora retrotransposon emerged from a lineage of plant endogenous retroviruses that possesses an env-like gene.

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Quote:In the present study, the characterization of the soybean retrotransposon, Diaspora, provides evidence for a relatively rapid transition between enveloped retroelements and non-enveloped retrotransposons. Our phylogenetic analysis suggests that the Diaspora retrotransposon emerged from a lineage of plant endogenous retroviruses that possesses an env-like gene.

I wonder how many of those words Dee would have been able to understand without a dictionary?

Diaspora as a word didn't appear until the 18th century - and initially referred to populaces fleeing their homelands.

Ironically enough, one of the more amusing examples returned in Stellars's word list he linked was "bad example".

Linda: could be, though if one were primarily interested in the nut, I'd guess they'd know it's a nut. Still you may be right that they saw it as having this shape. It still is one of the better explanations so far in my opinion.

Stellar: the Diaspora in your article is actually a term from genetics that has little to do with names for plants. Soy Beans are an interesting crop to consider, but it looks like they left their native region of East Asia relatively late and weren't even cultivated in India by the 15th century.

The other plant you linked has a serrate leaf but doesn't explain the rest of the image. It is quite interesting in itself though, since it is common and was apparently exported as a type of hemp.

David: the most amusing example in that list is "Christ Sex Predator" -  where do they get those phrases

(25-11-2016, 08:25 PM)davidjackson Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

Quote:In the present study, the characterization of the soybean retrotransposon, Diaspora, provides evidence for a relatively rapid transition between enveloped retroelements and non-enveloped retrotransposons. Our phylogenetic analysis suggests that the Diaspora retrotransposon emerged from a lineage of plant endogenous retroviruses that possesses an env-like gene.

I wonder how many of those words Dee would have been able to understand without a dictionary?

Diaspora as a word didn't appear until the 18th century - and initially referred to populaces fleeing their homelands.

Ironically enough, one of the more amusing examples returned in Stellars's word list he linked was "bad example".

Hi David,

My beliefs in John Dee have vanished and my cipher is getting a tweak!

Thanks for the response, I looked up etymology and I would not take this as gospel for how long words have been around.

Quote:This is a map of the wheel-ruts of modern English. Etymologies are not definitions; they're explanations of what our words meant and how they sounded 600 or 2,000 years ago.

The dates beside a word indicate the earliest year for which there is a surviving written record of that word (in English, unless otherwise indicated). This should be taken as approximate, especially before about 1700, since a word may have been used in conversation for hundreds of years before it turns up in a manuscript that has had the good fortune to survive the centuries.

Quote:c. 1300, from Old French transmigracion "exile, diaspora" (13c.) and directly from Late Latin transmigrationem (nominative transmigratio) "change of country," noun of action from past participle stem of Latin transmigrare "to wander, move, to migrate," from trans- "over" (see You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.) + migrare "to migrate" (see You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.). Originally literal, in reference to the removal of the Jews into the Babylonian captivity; general sense of "passage from one place to another" is attested from late 14c.; sense of "passage of the soul after death into another body" first recorded 1590s.
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@stellar - what you posted is the etymology for the word transmigration. That same page gives diaspora a dating of 1876.

Quote:I looked up etymology...

Can I suggest that if you've never come across a concept before you take some time to study and understand it. If you want to seriously discuss arguments with people a 30 second look at a Wikipedia article isn't going to cut it.

(25-11-2016, 08:29 PM)Koen Gh. Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Linda: could be, though if one were primarily interested in the nut, I'd guess they'd know it's a nut. Still you may be right that they saw it as having this shape. It still is one of the better explanations so far in my opinion.

The other thought I had was perhaps it wasn't a leaf drawn at all, but an indication of the "pop" of the opening of the sheath when ripe.