+- The Voynich Ninja (https://www.voynich.ninja)
+-- Forum: Library and Research (https://www.voynich.ninja/forum-35.html)
+--- Forum: Codicology and Paleography (https://www.voynich.ninja/forum-48.html)
+--- Thread: Splitting word across lines (/thread-2454.html)
Pages:
1
2
RE: Splitting word across lines - Jorge_Stolfi - 31-08-2025
I gather that splitting marks ("hyphens"), like other punctuation, were sort of a luxury in those times. In You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., for instance, on the first line after the big capital, the word "cogitanti" is split without any markings.
All the best, --jorge
RE: Splitting word across lines - nablator - 31-08-2025
(31-08-2025, 01:50 AM)Jorge_Stolfi Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.for instance, on the first line after the big capital, the word "cogitanti" is split without any markings.
Actually there is a tiny "=" there (you need to zoom to see it) and at the end of other lines where a hyphen is needed.
Hyphens are totally missing in some manuscripts, also in incunabula (or ~50% missing).
It's been pointed out in other threads that words were split without a hyphen between branches of plants in Italian herbals that have texts written close to the illustration much like the VM.
RE: Splitting word across lines - dashstofsk - 01-09-2025
(18-08-2018, 10:38 PM)lelle Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.possibly the VMs could be inspected with regards to which words can be compiled across line breaks
It is unlikely that words were split in the VMS. Any splitting would force the average length of line first words and line last words to be smaller. But in fact last words are average and first words are longer.
From the GC transliteration:
RE: Splitting word across lines - MarcoP - 01-09-2025
(01-09-2025, 08:29 AM)dashstofsk Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.(18-08-2018, 10:38 PM)lelle Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.possibly the VMs could be inspected with regards to which words can be compiled across line breaks
It is unlikely that words were split in the VMS. Any splitting would force the average length of line first words and line last words to be smaller. But in fact last words are average and first words are longer.
It's tricky. When You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., I found something different: last words do not vary much, while first words tend to be longer. My guess is that this is because English (like most natural languages) tends to alternate Short Long Short Long. Short words can easily fit at the end of a line, so Long words are more likely to occur at line-start.
But researchers among whom Bowern pointed out that Voynichese has auto-correlated word-lengths, like: Short Short Short Long Long Long, so things might be different.
Anyway, I agree with the conclusion that Voynichese words do not seem to be split across lines. I vaguely remember I tried merging words across lines and I didn't find a particularly high rate of actual words.