The top left hand loop of the gallows characters is a 4. Who disagrees?

[Mark Knowles]

So why didn't you just ask whether we think EVA-q the top left loop of the gallows character looks more like "4" than "q"?


To that question - taking the shapes as I type them as reference - I would say that yes, it does look more like "4" because it is bent rather than round. There is not an equal slope to the curve. But the tips do display a great variety of roundedness. On a typical page I find both sharp points close to "4" and rounded points.

I did ask that question and when asked for clarification in subsequent comments as to what I meant by people I provided it.

I think we are in the area of considering natural human drawing variation i.e. we don't always draw every shape the same way as we don't have perfect control over the quill. Also speed as we are drawing is a factor. I think the question is what shape the author was trying to draw, a triangle as in "4" or a circle as in "q". I imagine when we are drawing fast, angles are more likely to become curves. However we have so very very many examples of this shape in the Voynich that we should be able to come to a firm conclusion. I have obviously pretty clear ideas that we have a "4" shape and ideas about how we could prove it.