04-09-2025, 02:00 PM
(This post was last modified: 04-09-2025, 02:01 PM by Jorge_Stolfi.
Edit Reason: formatting
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(04-09-2025, 12:33 AM)ReneZ wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.One of the problems with the Voynich MS text is its relative lack of repeating sequences of words.
Compared to what text? What are the top "repeating sequences of words" in that text?
These are the most common two- and three- word sentences in the Herbal section of Culpeper's Herbal (17th century English). The phrases do not span paragraph or section boundaries. Capitalization was ignored. The counting was stopped after collecting the first 10000 phrases:
136 of.the | 17 vertues.and.use
73 in.the | 14 of.the.liver
43 it.is | 13 the.liver.and
30 and.the | 11 of.the.body
26 for.the | 10 liver.and.spleen
26 the.leaves | 9 the.juyce.of
24 at.the | 8 the.decoction.of
21 vertues.and | 7 about.the.edges
19 a.little | 7 an.herb.of
19 of.a | 7 and.a.little
19 the.body | 7 and.of.a
19 the.liver | 7 decoction.of.the
19 the.root | 7 is.good.to
19 to.the | 7 it.is.an
18 is.good | 7 obstructions.of.the
18 they.are | 7 pains.in.the
17 and.use | 7 the.root.is
17 of.them | 6 distilled.water.of
17 the.decoction | 6 end.of.the
17 the.juyce | 6 in.wine.and
Here is the same for the novel I Promessi Sposi (modern Italian), same conditions:
42 don.abbondio | 8 di.don.abbondio
29 che.non | 7 amor.del.cielo
19 non.si | 7 per.amor.del
17 con.un | 6 l'illustrissimo.ed.eccellentissimo
16 e.di | 5 ed.eccellentissimo.signore
15 e.poi | 5 qua.e.là
12 a.un | 4 bravi.e.vagabondi
12 e.che | 4 che.don.abbondio
11 e.il | 4 don.abbondio.non
11 in.un | 4 e.poi.e
11 per.la | 4 eccellentissimo.signore.il
10 con.la | 4 non.so.niente
10 il.mio | 4 poi.e.poi
10 quello.che | 4 posso.aver.fallato
9 a.me | 4 signore.il.signor
9 non.ci | 3 a.don.abbondio
8 ciò.che | 3 a.ogni.passo
8 con.voce | 3 a.segno.che
8 del.cielo | 3 a.un.galantuomo
8 di.don | 3 a.un.tratto
And here is the same for the Vulgate Genesis (Latin), same conditions:
35 super.terram | 21 annis.et.genuit
32 et.genuit | 17 filios.et.filias
27 in.terra | 14 et.genuit.filios
21 ad.eum | 14 genuit.filios.et
21 annis.et | 10 annos.et.genuit
19 dominus.deus | 10 et.mortuus.est
18 est.in | 10 inter.me.et
18 et.filias | 9 et.facti.sunt
18 filios.et | 9 et.factum.est
16 cum.eo | 9 sunt.omnes.dies
16 me.et | 9 super.terram.et
16 postquam.genuit | 7 facti.sunt.omnes
15 et.ait | 6 dixitque.ad.eum
14 genuit.filios | 6 est.ad.eum
13 et.dixit | 6 est.vespere.et
13 terram.et | 6 et.mane.dies
13 usque.ad | 6 et.vidit.deus
12 caeli.et | 6 locutus.est.ad
12 est.ad | 6 me.et.te
12 nomen.eius | 6 triginta.annis.et
I conclude that
(1) English has a lot more repeated two-word phrases than Latin because of its grammar: use of prepositions rather than cases, mandatory pronouns, articles (only one of each)...
(2) Italian has fewer repeated two-word phrases than English, probably because it has inflected articles and relies on verb inflections rather than mandatory pronouns; but still has more than Latin.
(3) The amount of repeated three-word phrases, and of repeated two-word phrases excluding function words, is totally dependent on the text, not on the language.
How does Voynichese compare with those languages?
All the best, --jorge

