26-02-2022, 09:33 AM
So here is my working theory:
The illustrations in the VM strongly suggest that it is a Turkic alchemical text -- note, NOT Turkish. The VM zodiac is a Hebrew Zodiac. These two things together suggest that it is a Khazar document, for which there is other contextual support. Only the Khazars combined Hebrew and Turkic cultural elements.
The Khazars spoke an Okhuzic Turkic language similar to Crimean Tatar language, however they used Hebrew letters for written language. The Khazars converted to Judaism in the 8th and 9th centuries and gradually adopted more Hebrew language. By the 10th century they were writing fully in Hebrew. It can be inferred that earlier, in the 9th century, they would have used Hebrew letters to write in their own Turkic language, and I think that describes the VM text.
I think Monica Yokubinas has made a start in figuring out the Hebrew-based alphabet, and I think that Ahmet Ardıç has correctly assessed that the language is Turkic but he is wrong in saying it is Turkish -- it is Khazar.
There is nothing Greek, Slavic, Latin, or western European here.
If I am correct then it means the text was probably written in the 9th century in Khazaria. In the 14th century someone copied the text, probably because the original was deteriorating. That copying probably occurred in Hungary, where Rudolph II acquired it.
The illustrations in the VM strongly suggest that it is a Turkic alchemical text -- note, NOT Turkish. The VM zodiac is a Hebrew Zodiac. These two things together suggest that it is a Khazar document, for which there is other contextual support. Only the Khazars combined Hebrew and Turkic cultural elements.
The Khazars spoke an Okhuzic Turkic language similar to Crimean Tatar language, however they used Hebrew letters for written language. The Khazars converted to Judaism in the 8th and 9th centuries and gradually adopted more Hebrew language. By the 10th century they were writing fully in Hebrew. It can be inferred that earlier, in the 9th century, they would have used Hebrew letters to write in their own Turkic language, and I think that describes the VM text.
I think Monica Yokubinas has made a start in figuring out the Hebrew-based alphabet, and I think that Ahmet Ardıç has correctly assessed that the language is Turkic but he is wrong in saying it is Turkish -- it is Khazar.
There is nothing Greek, Slavic, Latin, or western European here.
If I am correct then it means the text was probably written in the 9th century in Khazaria. In the 14th century someone copied the text, probably because the original was deteriorating. That copying probably occurred in Hungary, where Rudolph II acquired it.