Time to retire Currier languages?

[Torsten]

Frequently used word types in Currier A are [daiin] and [chol]/[chor], whereas for Currier B [chedy] and [shedy] are commonly used. Is it possible to describe a development from Currier A to Currier B? To answer this question it is only necessary to count word types typical for Currier A or B within each section. 

Since [chol] and [chor] are typical for Currier A and [chedy] and [shedy] are typical for Currier B it seems reasonable to count all word types starting with [ch-] or [sh-]. The five most frequent [ch-]/[sh-]-word types for the different sections are:

	1nd	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	word count
Herbal (A)	chol (228)	chor (155)	shol (104)	sho (96)	chy (95)	8,087
Pharma (A)	chol (45)	cheol (40)	chor (24)	cheor (24)	chey (21)	2,529
Astro	shey (7)	chol (6)	cheo (5)	cheey (4)	cheor (4)	2,136
Cosmo	chedy (24)	chey (20)	chol (19)	chdy (17)	chey (16)	2,691
Herbal (B)	chedy (62)	chdy (53)	shedy (35)	chkchy (35)	chey (20)	3,233
Stars (B)	chedy (190)	chey (123)	shedy (113)	shey (84)	cheey (77)	10,673
Biological (B)	shedy (247)	chedy (210)	shey (99)	chey (94)	sheedy (43)	6,911

The table demonstrates a general principle for the Voynich manuscript. Top-frequency types dominating one page or section might be rare or missing on the next one. However, all pages or sections do have in common that pairs of frequently used words with high mutual similarity appear (see Timm & Schinner 2020, p. 3).

It is possible to reorder the sections that as a result two sections with similar word frequencies follow each other. The resulting table shows the counts for the most frequent [ch-]/[sh-]-types:

	chol	chor	cheol	cheo	chey	shey	chdy	chedy	shedy	word count
Herbal (A)	228	155	28	14	55	40	7	1		8,087
Pharma (A)	45	24	40	11	21	19	1	1	1	2,529
Astro	6	2	2	5	2	7	1	4		2,136
Cosmo	19	8	5	2	20	16	17	24	17	2,691
Herbal (B)	13	6	6	1	20	6	53	62	35	3,233
Stars (B)	62	19	52	30	123	84	40	190	113	10,673
Biological (B)	14	1	29		94	99	23	210	247	6,911

In Herbal A [chol] and [chor] are frequently used, but in the Pharmaceutical section [chol] is used together with [cheol]. It is interesting to note that a type [cheol] also exists in Herbal A. However [cheol] occurs less frequently in Herbal A. (It is even possible to find a single instance of [chedy] for Herbal A.)

This way it is possible to describe a shift from [chol]/[chor] via [cheol]/[cheor], [cheo]/[sheo], [chey]/[shey], to [chedy]/[shedy]. The result of this shift is a "gradual evolution of a single system from state A to state B" (Timm & Schinner, p. 7). The gradual evolution of a single system also explains the fact that Currier A and B have numerous patterns in common.