We know almost for sure that the Voynichese glyph set was purposefully assembled. By which I mean, it did not organically evolve over centuries. The fact that we have this particular collection of glyphs is likely the result of someone's (or a group's) conscious choice.
We don't know if the glyph set was first constructed for the VM, and if more documents using it have existed. We also don't know if there are earlier or other versions elsewhere. But this matters little, we have what we have.
So I've been thinking for a while... if we can assume that these glyphs were chosen, then what was the rationale behind their inclusion? It's quite a peculiar set.
This list is made off the top of my head from what I remember, it's incomplete and I hope it can be fleshed out further and corrected. Still, it's a strange picture already.
We have:
- Avoids unambiguous characters from the alphabet.
- Uses characters familiar to the Latin scribe.
The final point might also be of interest. The selection of known symbols likely meant that the writing system could be learned easily.
But why construct a glyph set that relies so heavily on numbers and abbreviation symbols?
We don't know if the glyph set was first constructed for the VM, and if more documents using it have existed. We also don't know if there are earlier or other versions elsewhere. But this matters little, we have what we have.
So I've been thinking for a while... if we can assume that these glyphs were chosen, then what was the rationale behind their inclusion? It's quite a peculiar set.
- a - letter a --> vowel
- o - letter o or zero --> vowel or number
- l - four --> number
- q - four or five or q? --> number or consonant
- d - d or s or eight --> number or consonant
- y - abbreviation or nine --> abbreviation or number
- s - abbreviation
- m - abbreviation
- g - abbreviation
- n - abbreviation
- ch - ligature
- sh - ligature
- r - consonant (or abbreviation?)
- e - c? or minim? what is this?
- i - letter i? or minim?
- t - abbreviation (?)
- k - abbreviation (?)
- z - abbreviation (?)
This list is made off the top of my head from what I remember, it's incomplete and I hope it can be fleshed out further and corrected. Still, it's a strange picture already.
We have:
- 5 glyphs that can be numbers
- About 10 glyphs in the ligature/abbreviation category
- Very few glyphs that are exclusively vowel or consonant. EVA-a is an exception. I'm not sure what to do with EVA-i and -e. EVA-r might be a pure consonant?
- Avoids unambiguous characters from the alphabet.
- Uses characters familiar to the Latin scribe.
The final point might also be of interest. The selection of known symbols likely meant that the writing system could be learned easily.
But why construct a glyph set that relies so heavily on numbers and abbreviation symbols?
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