Quote:In fact style of drawing is absolutely critical because it directs attention to the mind-set informing the image, and thus assists correct attribution. Style is how we distinguish whether the picture of (say) a woman and child is meant for the Madonna, and further whether it is a product of Italy, France, Spain, Russia, Egypt or China.
Since many also assume, without pausing to consider whether the assumption is anachronistic, that any divergence in style between Latin art and the imagery in Beinecke MS 408 may be dismissed as due to some imaginary figure called "the artist", we have the compounding of these two notions at work before the person even begins to posit a plant id.
Another unthinking assumption is that any pictures of plants must constitute a herbal. For all anyone knows, the pictures may be patterns for ... a craftsman's collection of patterns to be used in metalwork, tapestry, embroidery, silk fabric, mosaic, china-painting or woodwork.
So what if the 'herbal' idea is another assumption not just unexamined but plain wrong?
In fact, based on the assumptions expressed in this thread, I got a novel idea that can be named "heads and tails" paradigm. With this paradigm:
a) the look of the Voynich plants is explained by that the primary purpose is mnemonics;
b) the roots of the Voynich plants are used as mnemonics for one language/usage (say, Latin/"scientific") and the tops of the plants are used as mnemonics for another language/usage (say, German/"folklore")
For You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. this would be the (provisional) Lysimachia and Schirmkraut, respectively.
With this concept, there may be no plant names mentioned in the botanical folios at all (so my PPN idea would need to be discarded), because they would actually be not needed there anymore.
This may position the botanical section completely out-of-style and make the search for style parallels vain, because the appearance would not be following style, but be the direct consequence of the ingenious approach of the mastermind behind those folios. And, of course, this would make the botanical section not a traditional herbal - because it conceals plant names instead of revealing them.
Of course this assumption is only provisional at the moment and needs to be checked against more botanical folios.
Quote:FYI, there was also a Greek physician called Lysimachos.
Wikipedia ( : sigh : ) says it's after Alexander's warlord, not the Greek physician.
UPD: I did some search in the internet and it looks like Plinius Maior stated that it was Lysimachus (the warlord) who first described Lysimachia (hence the name). The exact sort of it that was supposed to be described by Lysimachus is unknown, but at least the name is older than XV c. Very good.
