+- The Voynich Ninja (https://www.voynich.ninja)
+-- Forum: Voynich Research (https://www.voynich.ninja/forum-27.html)
+--- Forum: Analysis of the text (https://www.voynich.ninja/forum-41.html)
+--- Thread: Opinions on: line as a functional unit (/thread-5021.html)
RE: Opinions on: line as a functional unit - JoJo_Jost - 08-11-2025
(Today, 02:46 AM)Jorge_Stolfi Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.It is Mongolian to me... Are those detached letters on the left margin just the first letter of the first word? As in another MS that was posted recently?
If so, what would be the justification for that layout? Just a fashion of the times? Helpful for reading? A side effect of how the scribe worked?
The letters are the first ones of the first word:
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
2. I actually wanted to find out why this was done before I posted it. But it just happened to fit here. I only have a very vague guess:
Attention, unproven personal theory:
As you can see in the image below from the structural lines drawn, the initial letters are given “more space.” This could be because capital letters were often at the beginning of a line. Since they were often drawn more artistically, they were given a little more space so that these beautiful glyphs could be seen and read better. And so a kind of “fad” arose.
What is unusual, however, is that in f49v.1 and f49v.16, there are at the beginnig of a line two gallow glyphs directly after each other, and the one in line 16 has also slipped.
In 66r, they are also partially misaligned, or the circle that looks like a small "o" belongs to the corresponding glyph (which would support my thesis that the original text had more information than the current one and that this information has disappeared for various reasons).
And here there are also whole words in front of it, too. This, in turn, is all very mysterious.
RE: Opinions on: line as a functional unit - Kaybo - 08-11-2025
(Today, 02:46 AM)Jorge_Stolfi Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.(Yesterday, 10:50 PM)JoJo_Jost Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I have also found such a text, so it does not seem to be anything unusual. Its an english text of the 13th century
It is Mongolian to me... Are those detached letters on the left margin just the first letter of the first word? As in another MS that was posted recently?
If so, what would be the justification for that layout? Just a fashion of the times? Helpful for reading? A side effect of how the scribe worked?
All the best, --stolfi
Mine are transcripts of the same book, so they maybe just copied? Maybe its indicating what we discussing here. Every line start is a new sentence or better a new row in a hym.
RE: Opinions on: line as a functional unit - nablator - 08-11-2025
(Yesterday, 10:50 PM)JoJo_Jost Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I have also found such a text, so it does not seem to be anything unusual. Its an english text of the 13th century
I am still trying to figure out the reason for these separate initial letters.
It's older, a style that basically means: "this is poetry".
11th century: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
Note: this page (linked) has a 2nd column of capitals on the right, that ends on the next page with "INVOCATIO ADD[ENDU]M". They are actually the same capitals in reverse order ending with ...RITACIRTM matching the beginning of the 1st column MTRICATIR... A hidden acrostic in there? A few letter sequences might make sense but most don't: NORIT... AMOR...
RE: Opinions on: line as a functional unit - bi3mw - 08-11-2025
I had completely forgotten that this writing style is called “acrostic.”
RE: Opinions on: line as a functional unit - nablator - 08-11-2025
(2 hours ago)bi3mw Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I had completely forgotten that this writing style is called “acrostic.”
Any composition including a (meaningful) text that can be read in the initial letters.
Quote:Acrostics are common in medieval literature, where they usually serve to highlight the name of the poet or his patron, or to make a prayer to a saint. They are most frequent in verse works but can also appear in prose.You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
This doesn't explain the separate column of capitals. It's a tradition, like capitalizing the first letter in poetry, that had no function other than aesthetic I suppose.