Cribs in the Voynich MS

[Mark Knowles]

If the Voynich MS were a regular cipher from the late middle ages, even a relatively complicated one, then these cribs would have been extremely helpful.

Obviously this depends what one means by 'regular'. Personally, I don't think Voynichese is a regular cipher, but I am inclined to think it is related to regular ciphers from the late middle ages. By 'related' I mean that they fit part of a tradition, but could have deviated in a significant way which makes them look outwardly much more different than they are, but this is speculation.

I would agree that these cribs could be very helpful. I would hesitate to say 'extremely' helpful as from what I can tell they don't yet reach the gold standard of a clear one-to-one correspondence between Voynichese word and specific text. However they may well be a stepping stones to finding such a correspondence and so a very important step towards a gold standard crib.

The "Umkehrschluss" is that the complete lack of success in using these cribs is just one more piece of evidence that the Voynich MS is not like a regular cipher.

It would be good to see an example of someone using these cribs.