06-06-2018, 12:33 AM
I don't remember if I've heard the apothecary quote before, but it so sounds like something that would be said after 1450. Am I right? 
Still, something about this way of thinking doesn't make sense to me. Take your document smuggling example; if you want to pass off the MS as Latin, then why use gallows? Why not use P, T, K ... instead? It will be equally illegible but raise less suspicion.
Let me put it another way, the "peculiar set". Ignore all rare Voynichese glyphs, we're not talking about the exceptions. So we're left with the most familiar glyphs, including benched gallows as visually one glyph. Now how many other manuscripts do you know that include all of these glyphs? None, I assume. All but one? All but two? All but... eight?
Just saying, if it's meant to trick people into thinking it is Latin script, it takes a lot of unnecessary risks. Even more likely might be that it's meant to trick Latins into thinking that it's something exotic, while maintaining perfect legibility for those who are in the know. That's not what I think happened either, but it seems less illgical to me.
Still, something about this way of thinking doesn't make sense to me. Take your document smuggling example; if you want to pass off the MS as Latin, then why use gallows? Why not use P, T, K ... instead? It will be equally illegible but raise less suspicion.
Let me put it another way, the "peculiar set". Ignore all rare Voynichese glyphs, we're not talking about the exceptions. So we're left with the most familiar glyphs, including benched gallows as visually one glyph. Now how many other manuscripts do you know that include all of these glyphs? None, I assume. All but one? All but two? All but... eight?
Just saying, if it's meant to trick people into thinking it is Latin script, it takes a lot of unnecessary risks. Even more likely might be that it's meant to trick Latins into thinking that it's something exotic, while maintaining perfect legibility for those who are in the know. That's not what I think happened either, but it seems less illgical to me.