13-08-2025, 02:55 PM
I'm writing in this old thread because it directly addresses Zipf's law. It's often said that the main text of the Voynch follows Zipf's law, but not the labels. This has been assumed, along with other things, in manuscript research, but I haven't seen a reasoned and convincing explanation. In fact, I don't think so.
Let's see, the most used word in the script is daiin, with 864 occurrences. According to Zipf's law, the next word should appear about half as often, but it doesn't because the second, ol , appears 538 times, 100 more than half.
According to Zipf's law, the next most common word should appear one-third as often as daiin, about 300 times rounded up, but this is not the case because the third word chedy appears 501 times. And the fourth word should appear just over 200 times, but it doesn't because aiin does 470 times.
In short, the alleged Voynich text does not follow Zipf's law, and it does not follow it because it is not a natural language.
Let's see, the most used word in the script is daiin, with 864 occurrences. According to Zipf's law, the next word should appear about half as often, but it doesn't because the second, ol , appears 538 times, 100 more than half.
According to Zipf's law, the next most common word should appear one-third as often as daiin, about 300 times rounded up, but this is not the case because the third word chedy appears 501 times. And the fourth word should appear just over 200 times, but it doesn't because aiin does 470 times.
In short, the alleged Voynich text does not follow Zipf's law, and it does not follow it because it is not a natural language.