Hi David,
I find your observation clearly presented and extremely interesting.
I have joined the searches on voyinichese.com highlighting f in green and p in yellow.
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The case of f is particularly fascinating, since the character does not often occur in the first word of a line. So this not so much a case of LAAFU as of PAAFU (paragraph as a functional unit).
Some random speculation prompted by the facts you collected:
The phenomenon might point to semantic structure in paragraphs, which in some respect is to be expected much more than structure in lines. Ancient herbals (and modern herbals as well) often have a fixed structure. For instance, each paragraph might provide the description of a plant including in a fixed order:
A possible hypothesis is that the paragraphs begin with listings of plant names in different languages (as in Pseudo-Apuleius). While p and f might not properly apply to Voynichese, they are used for words borrowed from other languages.
Another possibility is that the two glyphs are only used for numbers. The first part of each paragraph contains quantitative data, e.g. the above mentioned Galenic properties (as in the Liber de Gradibus Simplicium or Cadamosto's herbal) or the size of the plant and its parts.
I find your observation clearly presented and extremely interesting.
I have joined the searches on voyinichese.com highlighting f in green and p in yellow.
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
The case of f is particularly fascinating, since the character does not often occur in the first word of a line. So this not so much a case of LAAFU as of PAAFU (paragraph as a functional unit).
Some random speculation prompted by the facts you collected:
The phenomenon might point to semantic structure in paragraphs, which in some respect is to be expected much more than structure in lines. Ancient herbals (and modern herbals as well) often have a fixed structure. For instance, each paragraph might provide the description of a plant including in a fixed order:
- a listing of different names for the plant
- a quantitative evaluation of its Galenic properties (e.g. "dry in the second degree")
- recipes for various diseases
- a description of the plant's habitat
A possible hypothesis is that the paragraphs begin with listings of plant names in different languages (as in Pseudo-Apuleius). While p and f might not properly apply to Voynichese, they are used for words borrowed from other languages.
Another possibility is that the two glyphs are only used for numbers. The first part of each paragraph contains quantitative data, e.g. the above mentioned Galenic properties (as in the Liber de Gradibus Simplicium or Cadamosto's herbal) or the size of the plant and its parts.