Transcription problem - f68v3 and Rosettes foldout

[Mark Knowles]

In schematic diagrams where earth and water are the main segments, fire is usually represented by a ring around the others and air is 1) sometimes above the earth and water or 2) sometimes a separate ring between fire and earth/water.

So you are not of the opinion that the Oresme drawing we have discussed is divided into 3 sections air-earth-water or fire-earth-water. Linda's interpretation, whilst I haven't seen clear evidence to back it up, that the T/O represents the whole earth including the habitable part(Europe+Africa+Asia), the southern ocean and the western wilderness is broadly consistent with the drawing. I assume by Linda's way of thinking the German map would have Europe and Africa in the top left corner, Asia in the top right corner and the southern ocean at the bottom. It doesn't however seem to tally with the elements and given that I have not seen any T/O with air, earth and water written in this does not seem to fit at all. On the basis of Linda's argument I suppose one could argue the T/O could say wilderness, habitable and antipodean though I haven't seen a T/O having those 3 written on it. And again I have not yet read in the Oresme text and elsewhere the justification for Linda's presentation particularly the wilderness identification.

Certainly I think the most likely explanation is that on the rosettes and on f68v3 we have a T/O map. Note again that the words at the bottom of the f68v3 T/O seem to be positioned rather than laid out as though in continuous sentence text as there are clear gaps between words. To me this indicates that specific words have specific positions or locations in the bottom half circle, implying to me that they represent specific places.