State of the Voynich 2020

[-JKP-]

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Is medicine an important part of the MS? 


For years I would have answered absolutely YES, but I am not quite as sure as I used to be. I think it is probably a significant component of the VMS, but I think some of the things I took for medicine in the early days might not be.

[nickpelling]

1. Does the text contain any meaning? Yes
   
   
2. Has the text been purposefully enciphered to conceal its meaning? Yes, but abbreviation has also discarded a lot of information.
   
   
3. Do the images match the text? Yes, but I strongly doubt that the images [b]all represent what they seem to be.[/b]
   
   
4. Are the plants meant to refer to real plants? Yes for a few (e.g. viola tricolor), but definitely no for many.
   
   
5. Is the majority of the plants exotic from a European perspective (Asian, African, American...)? No (for those plant drawings that do represent plants)
   
   
6. Have the images been made ambiguous or otherwise strange to conceal their true meaning? Yes
   
   
7. Is alchemy an important part of the manuscript? No
   
   
8. Is astronomy and/or astrology an important part of the MS? Yes
   
   
9. Is medicine an important part of the MS? Yes
   
   
10. Is the MS the creative product of one mind, i.e. an author? (Taking into account the possibility that one or more scribes helped to fashion the physical manuscript). Yes
    
    
11. Is the MS authored by a known historical figure? Maybe. But let's decrypt it first and then worry about such subtleties. ;-)
    
    
12. Will we ever be able to read the MS? Yes, but only with great difficulty, even once it has been decrypted. :-(
    
    
13. Will there be any breakthrough in Voynich studies in 2020? Meh.
    
    
14. Is the MS any kind of hoax? There are too many wildly different definitions of hoax to answer. It's certainly deceptive.
    
    
15. Have (part of) your views about the MS changed notably over the last few years? No.
    

[Ruby Novacna]

1.      yes
2.      non
3.      yes
4.      yes
5.      Don’t know
6.      no more than in other works
7.      Don’t know
8.      yes
9.      Yes
10.  probably compilation of several authors
11.  probably compilation of several authors
12.  yes
13.  yes
14.  Don’t know
15.  Non

[Koen G]

The breakhrough comes when least expected!

This could be true. We were expecting a huge breakthrough in 2017 and the closest we came was that time You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view....

Tanks all for taking the effort of answering the questions. We've got 18 entries so far, that's better than last time. I'll leave it open a few days longer before presenting the results, it would be nice if we got to 20

[bi3mw]

Does the text contain any meaning? Yes
Has the text been purposefully enciphered to conceal its meaning? Yes
Do the images match the text? Yes
Are the plants meant to refer to real plants? Yes and No ( composite plants )
Is the majority of the plants exotic from a European perspective (Asian, African, American...)? No
Have the images been made ambiguous or otherwise strange to conceal their true meaning? No
Is alchemy an important part of the manuscript? Yes ( Quire 13)
Is astronomy and/or astrology an important part of the MS? Yes
Is medicine an important part of the MS? No (a part, but not important )
Is the MS the creative product of one mind, i.e. an author? (Taking into account the possibility that one or more scribes helped to fashion the physical manuscript) Yes
Is the MS authored by a known historical figure? No idea
Will we ever be able to read the MS? Yes
Will there be any breakthrough in Voynich studies in 2020? No
Is the MS any kind of hoax? No
Have (part of) your views about the MS changed notably over the last few years? Yes

[Helmut Winkler]

[*]1. Does the text contain any meaning? yes

[*]2. Has the text been purposefully enciphered to conceal its meaning? no

[*]3. Do the images match the text? yes

[*]4. Are the plants meant to refer to real plants? yes

[*]5. Is the majority of the plants exotic from a European perspective (Asian, African, American...)?  no

[*]6. Have the  images been made ambiguous or otherwise strange to conceal their true meaning?  no

[*]7. Is alchemy an important part of the manuscript?  no

[*]8. Is astronomy and/or astrology an important part of the MS?  yes

[*]9. Is medicine an important part of the MS?  yes

[*]10. Is the MS the creative product of one mind, i.e. an author? (Taking into account the possibility that one or more scribes helped to fashion the physical manuscript) y11es

[*]11. Is the MS authored by a known historical figure? yes

[*]12. Will we ever be able to read the MS?  yes

[*]13. Will there be any breakthrough in Voynich studies in 2020? no

[*]14. Is the MS any kind of hoax?  no

[*]15. Have (part of) your views about the MS changed notably over the last few years?  no

[Wladimir D]

1. Does the text contain any meaning? Yes (for Q 1, 2, 3 (А), 4 (А), f88, 89, 99-102)
   
2. Has the text been purposefully enciphered to conceal its meaning? Yes
   
3. Do the images match the text? Yes (for Q 1, 2, 3 (А), 4 (А), f88, 89, 99-102)
   
4. Are the plants meant to refer to real plants? For large plants - Yes. For small plants, part is a real plant, another part is applications (remember the carts You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. )
   
5. Is the majority of the plants exotic from a European perspective (Asian, African, American...)? No.
   
6. Have the images been made ambiguous or otherwise strange to conceal their true meaning? Yes.
   
7. Is alchemy an important part of the manuscript? No.
   
8. Is astronomy and/or astrology an important part of the MS? No
   
9. Is medicine an important part of the MS? Yes.
   
10. Is the MS the creative product of one mind, i.e. an author? (Taking into account the possibility that one or more scribes helped to fashion the physical manuscript) Yes.
    
11. Is the MS authored by a known historical figure? Yes (I cannot rule this out).
    
12. Will we ever be able to read the MS? (understand the meaning / purpose - yes)
    
13. Will there be any breakthrough in Voynich studies in 2020? No.
    
14. Is the MS any kind of hoax? YES (The goal of any cryptography is deception)
    
15. Have (part of) your views about the MS changed notably over the last few years? Yes. This was influenced by the work of Torsten Timm and the work of Alexander Ulyanenko (the work of the three English queens in the “zodiacs”). Here I can (presumptuously) include my work on transcription in elementary touches.