05-04-2024, 11:30 PM
Many useful stats gives us the contour and habits of the text. But I am wary of the mystique of statistics. Generally, we are only warranted to apply fuzzy statistics to Voynichese. We are not warranted to say there are 864 cases of [daiin] in the text. No, there are about 860 cases of [daiin] in the text, give or take, or "just over 860." And all the stats are like that, necessarily imprecise.
In any case, it is good practice to avoid the text at first and just study the illustrations. Treat it as a picture book. I think that is helpful. The text, after all, is presented to us in a context - and since the text is so opaque, let's get a sense of the context.
The obvious implication of the map is that it sets out a region, and then the herbs and other things in the ms. are relevant to that defined region. On the face of it, you'd think the herbs belong to the region set out in the map. That might not be right, but it is a natural reading of it.
In any case, it is good practice to avoid the text at first and just study the illustrations. Treat it as a picture book. I think that is helpful. The text, after all, is presented to us in a context - and since the text is so opaque, let's get a sense of the context.
The obvious implication of the map is that it sets out a region, and then the herbs and other things in the ms. are relevant to that defined region. On the face of it, you'd think the herbs belong to the region set out in the map. That might not be right, but it is a natural reading of it.
