05-03-2019, 08:10 PM
Hi Geoffrey,
I feel your pain, even though i have not looked into the text myself yet, i have watched a bit from the sidelines, but am trying to bone up on some of the particulars to see if it could have anything to do with a hypothesis i am working with, which is that it doesn't encode text in the usual semantic sense, but rather names of places, distances and bearings. If it did, it could be an encoded rutter from which a portolan map could possibly be charted. A lot of names on maps are abbreviated, probably because they were abbreviated in the original nautical notes from which the info originated, and thus abbreviation signs may be involved.
So for instance, those short repeated vords could represent wind direction abbreviations, which would be constantly repeated. There would be possibly 32 combinations thereof. Distances would likely be numbers followed by an abbreviated measurement, for words like leagues, for example, again repeated for almost every entry.
Might also be things like the height of the pole star for that location, or other such time and direction keeping devices, such as zodiac names or abbreviations thereof set in a certain sequence to obtain sun and moon charts, or a Solomon table for new moon listings made up of various letters and numbers.
But i can foresee problems with this idea. Like you say, similar labels for different things is an issue to resolve. But the o words could have meaning in terms of spatial relationships.
It might be possible that the vords are based on a volvelle or astrolabe for calculating such timings and distances but dont know how it would pertain to place name abbreviations or indications thereof.
From what i see in the images i sometimes get the idea that the text is not necessary, other than perhaps to fill in details. But it would not explain text only pages, so i do feel it means something. I hope it does, at least. I would think that because the imagery could be seen to have meaning to those who have prior knowledge that the text could be the same, ie they could read off it directly, rather than having to look up each glyph in deciphering, and have to transfer to another document bit by bit to read it. It just seems that way to me, if it is a personal handbook of some sort, that the owner would be able to reference the data without too much trouble, otherwise it seems like it would be a lot of work to go through only to be harder to decipher than it was to put together in the first place. If it records shoreline data, then it could be seen why they might want to encode it, to hide it, and because it is not necessary to see such detail until you are travelling to those specific places. Could maybe make a map on the fly when needed, if they could read their own shorthand. Or they might not have cared about the names at all and just listed each port location by distance and direction from the last one, with the odd famous or well known name thrown in for clarity every once in awhile, or a blurb here and there like good water here, or don't hit that rock.
It could also be that this info would be copied from various originals and therefore the layout may change from source to source, and also the language, abbreviations, etc. could change from section to section.
Given this idea can you see any possibilities within your experience of trying to decipher the text? Did any patterns emerge that could fit this hypothesis?
I feel your pain, even though i have not looked into the text myself yet, i have watched a bit from the sidelines, but am trying to bone up on some of the particulars to see if it could have anything to do with a hypothesis i am working with, which is that it doesn't encode text in the usual semantic sense, but rather names of places, distances and bearings. If it did, it could be an encoded rutter from which a portolan map could possibly be charted. A lot of names on maps are abbreviated, probably because they were abbreviated in the original nautical notes from which the info originated, and thus abbreviation signs may be involved.
So for instance, those short repeated vords could represent wind direction abbreviations, which would be constantly repeated. There would be possibly 32 combinations thereof. Distances would likely be numbers followed by an abbreviated measurement, for words like leagues, for example, again repeated for almost every entry.
Might also be things like the height of the pole star for that location, or other such time and direction keeping devices, such as zodiac names or abbreviations thereof set in a certain sequence to obtain sun and moon charts, or a Solomon table for new moon listings made up of various letters and numbers.
But i can foresee problems with this idea. Like you say, similar labels for different things is an issue to resolve. But the o words could have meaning in terms of spatial relationships.
It might be possible that the vords are based on a volvelle or astrolabe for calculating such timings and distances but dont know how it would pertain to place name abbreviations or indications thereof.
From what i see in the images i sometimes get the idea that the text is not necessary, other than perhaps to fill in details. But it would not explain text only pages, so i do feel it means something. I hope it does, at least. I would think that because the imagery could be seen to have meaning to those who have prior knowledge that the text could be the same, ie they could read off it directly, rather than having to look up each glyph in deciphering, and have to transfer to another document bit by bit to read it. It just seems that way to me, if it is a personal handbook of some sort, that the owner would be able to reference the data without too much trouble, otherwise it seems like it would be a lot of work to go through only to be harder to decipher than it was to put together in the first place. If it records shoreline data, then it could be seen why they might want to encode it, to hide it, and because it is not necessary to see such detail until you are travelling to those specific places. Could maybe make a map on the fly when needed, if they could read their own shorthand. Or they might not have cared about the names at all and just listed each port location by distance and direction from the last one, with the odd famous or well known name thrown in for clarity every once in awhile, or a blurb here and there like good water here, or don't hit that rock.
It could also be that this info would be copied from various originals and therefore the layout may change from source to source, and also the language, abbreviations, etc. could change from section to section.
Given this idea can you see any possibilities within your experience of trying to decipher the text? Did any patterns emerge that could fit this hypothesis?
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